| UNMIS Civil Affairs section has stepped up its efforts to help resolve inter-communal conflicts and prepare the ground for peace in some tension-ridden communities of Southern Sudan.
The section encourages the leadership, including peace building and reconciliation as well as security committees of Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) and state assemblies, to ensure conflicts are visible in policy. Such activities have already begun in Eastern Equatoria state and at the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA).
Civil Affairs also initiates joint visits with specialized committees and key state advisors to provide on-the-spot mediation between parties to conflicts. The most recent intervention focused on the conflict between the Logir and Dongotono clans in Ikotos county, Eastern Equatoria, which saw loss of life and property.
The section assisted delegations from the SSLA, the State Assembly (including advisors on peace as well as gender) and key opinion leaders with a joint trip to Chorokol, the actual location of fighting.
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The team held consultations with the two communities and helped them resolve their differences. It also held meetings with non-governmental organizations operating in the area, so that immediate relief could be provided.
Earlier, assisting with the Bari-Mundari conflict, Civil Affairs helped form an inter-tribal taskforce to find root causes of their dispute and develop ways of resolving it. Local chiefs led in reconciliation by restoring looted properties and identifying troublemakers on each side, who are being tried through both traditional and formal legal processes.
Mutual interaction with conflicting communities enables GoSS and state leaders to learn actual causes of conflicts, which normally go beyond basic cattle raiding and inter-tribal hatred.
Key issues mediators have discovered include a lack of services and absence of government machinery in conflict areas. Often, a sense of neglect and marginalization compels communities to vent their frustrations on each other. |
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