Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The communities of Leer, Mayiandit, and Koch Counties of Unity State have embarked on a two-day peace and reconciliation dialogue in the capital, Juba.
The conference was organized by the Universal Intervention and Development Organization (UNIDOR), a national nongovernmental organization, and facilitated by religious leaders, Rev. James Kuong Ninrew and Rev Thomas Manyol Riek of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan.
According to the facilitators, the Community Reconciliation Dialogue was attended by 125 participants, who were mostly representatives of Leer, Mayiandit and Koch counties.
Speaking to the media, the Executive Director of the Universal Intervention and Development Organization, Rev. James Kuong Ninrew, said the two-day conference was a continuation of a peace dialogue that was funded by the USAID through Shejah Salam and it was aimed to engage the two communities of Leer and Maiyandit to find an everlasting peace in their communities.
“The program is a dialogue between the communities of Mayiandit, Leer and Koch and this is a continuation of a peace dialogue which was supported by USAID through Shejah Salam as a donor and the reason is to engage the two communities of Leer and Maiyandit so that they can have a long lasting peace that will enable them to stay in peace at the community level.”, he said.
“The program is a dialogue between the communities of Mayiandit, Leer and Koch and this is a continuation of a peace dialogue which was supported by USAID through Shejah Salam as a donor and the reason is to engage the two communities of Leer and Maiyandit so that they can have a long lasting peace that will enable them to stay in peace at the community level.”, he said.
According to Rev. Ninrew, the conference could have been organized at the grassroots in Leer and Mayiandit counties, respectively; unfortunately, that did not happen because of fragile security in the area among others.
In response, UNIDOR decided to organize the conference in the capital, Juba, with hopes that the participants will help to mobilize their communities to live in peace and harmony.
“We feel as an organization that if we can engage the communities in Juba, they will also be able to help us advocate for the conference to take place in Mayiandit and Leer.” Rev. Ninrew said.
“We have this gathering to dialogue on the cause of the conflict and how the communities can be able to resolve them. So that is actually the objective of today’s function in Juba.”, he added.
According to the facilitators, the initiate also aimed to normalize the on-going hostilities between the two sisterly communities to mitigate armed youth conflicts in the three counties
Recent incidents in Koch, Leer and Mayiandit counties, which included an attack on aid workers, drew International condemnation and calls for a government investigation into alleged human rights violations; however, president Kiir’s government paid a deaf ear to such calls.
The two-day peace initiative brought together political leaders, youth, women and as well as other stakeholders. The initiative has been welcomed with open arms by the three communities and intellectuals such as Ruot George, a journalist and a former correspondent for Nyamilepedia, who appreciates the facilitators for organizing the event.
“Many thank you to Universal Intervention and Development Organisation – UNIDOR, a national nongovernmental organization for the initiative of Community Reconciliation Dialogue that brought together 125 participants from Leer and Mayiandit. Some people could not believe that it will succeed but with God, everything is possible.” Ruot George said.
“Many thank you to Universal Intervention and Development Organisation – UNIDOR, a national nongovernmental organization for the initiative of Community Reconciliation Dialogue that brought together 125 participants from Leer and Mayiandit. Some people could not believe that it will succeed but with God, everything is possible.” Ruot George said.
According to Ruot George, the three communities agreed that there is no conflict between Leer, Mayiandit and Koch counties but just a few incidents between disgruntled individuals whose lands and other properties were affected by the new border between Mayiandit and Leer.
“Some of the major problem identified include insecurity due to poor governance, land disputes due to lack of formal agreement when Mayiandit was splitted from Leer in 2001” Ruot George said,
“What is happening currently is the war between owners of properties and those who want to loot the properties.” He added.
Towards the end of the conference the participants agreed to repatriate their loved ones and friends to where they belong in order to mitigate conflicts and to advocate for peaceful co-existence between the three counties and also within Unity State as a whole.
On their part, women leaders, who attended the conference, called on the three commissioners of the three counties to resign and allow women to lead, saying that men have failed to address community issues and therefore, women should be given a chance to come in to resolve them.
Lastly, the participants have agreed to conduct another dialogue in the counties and decided that two members of parliament and five community members from each of the counties will be delegated to visit their respective counties to join the peace dialogue on the ground.
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