Community peace committees from Lakes and Warrap states have called on the two state governments to deploy grassroots “akut-door” committees from Rumbek to Greater Tonj in Warrap State to help address intercommunal violence, disputes and conflicts, including cattle theft, raiding, road ambushes and revenge killings in Tonj East and Tonj South counties.
The appeal was made during a two-day peace dialogue organised by Peace Canal, which concluded on Monday in Rumbek. The meeting brought together more than 100 participants from the two states.
The dialogue urged authorities to facilitate exchange visits and deploy community peace structures to help resolve recurring conflicts in Greater Tonj.
Atuat Lual, head of the peace committee in Tonj East County, said communities in the area were experiencing internal conflicts and wanted to learn from Rumbek’s experience.
“If we have these problems, we came to Rumbek to make an exchange visit and to find out how Rumbek became stable after many years of instability and now they are in peace,” he said.
“Now we are urging the government of Warrap State to take people of Rumbek to Tonj East County to show us how they have resolved most of their problems. We have no other problem among us.”
He added: “There are no more problems in Rumbek, but we ask the state government to allow these people of Rumbek to go to Tonj East County to help resolve the problems facing people there.”
“We want peace and stability in Tonj East County. We want to leave all the problems behind so that we can move to the next level and do other good things. God will bring other good things to us.”
Moses Maker Magok, commissioner of Rumbek North County, said the dialogue brought together participants from Rumbek East, Rumbek Centre, Rumbek North and Cueibet counties as part of broader inter-county peace efforts.
He said the aim of the conference was to promote dialogue among neighbouring communities and states.
“We came out with good resolutions, and we appreciate the governments of Warrap and Lakes states,” he said. “They were very happy with how youths from both sides deliberated on how our people can return to normalcy.”
He said he was encouraged by peace agreements reached between Luacjang and Pakam communities.
“As commissioner of Rumbek North County, I am very happy to see the Luacjang community, which signed a peace agreement with Pakam last night, fully represented in this dialogue,” he said.
“We have embraced the dialogue we signed, and it will help our communities across the six counties that were invited. I hope this dialogue will continue in other counties, as Peace Canal has indicated support for communities.”
He said the dialogue between Luacjang and Pakam communities was ongoing.
Women representative in Tonj East County, Aguek Malith, also called for the deployment of Rumbek-based akut-door committees to Tonj to help address intercommunal violence, cattle theft and revenge killings.
She said the committees should share their experience of how they achieved peace and stability in Rumbek.
She said Tonj had been affected by persistent intercommunal violence with little hope of immediate resolution.
Peace Canal area coordinator in Rumbek, Mary Arun Gol, said the akut-door committees were drawn from Lakes and Warrap states, including Tonj Eas
t, Tonj South, Cueibet, Rumbek Centre, Rumbek East and Rumbek North counties, and had spent two days in dialogue.
She said the aim was for grassroots peace committees to share achievements since their formation.
“We also formed grassroots peace committees in September, and this time Peace Canal brought all of them together to share achievements, challenges and the way forward,” she said.
She said there were rising cases of intercommunal conflict in Cueibet, greater Rumbek and greater Tonj.
“We discussed how to resolve these issues, and the akut-door recommitted themselves to engaging cattle keepers and youths in cattle camps monthly to reduce conflict,” she said.
She said key causes of conflict included cattle theft, raiding, revenge killings and road ambushes, adding that the government should arrest perpetrators to reduce cycles of violence.
She said revenge killings often occurred when suspects moved freely after attacks.
Lakes State Cabinet Affairs Minister Stephen Mathiang Deng said Peace Canal and other partners were working with the state government and local authorities to strengthen community peace structures.
He said the dialogue also focused on reconciliation between Luacjang and Jalwau communities.
“The team from Warrap is appealing to their brothers in Lakes State to support and work closely with them to bring peace between Luacjang and Jalwau communities, which is one of the important topics in this two-day discussion,” he said.
He said some areas in Lakes State, including Rumbek North, parts of Rumbek Centre and Cueibet, were still affected by insecurity.
“These counties are still experiencing sectional conflicts, and the governor is appealing to them to stop senseless fighting and cattle theft,” he said.
He said the governor had spent two months touring payams across eight counties to promote peace and improve service delivery, adding that insecurity continued to hinder access to education and health services.
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