Over 110 chiefs and members of organized forces in Mundri East County, Western Equatoria State, are to undergo peace training to promote co-existence in the area.

Speaking to The City Review on a telephone interview from Mundri on Monday, Mundri East County commissioner Margret Fozia said it was important for the chiefs to be trained to handle issues that are affecting people at the community level.

Fozia said the chiefs are key leaders in their community and that conducting training for them on peace will enable them to effectively participate in the development of the County.

“There is already an ongoing peace agreement. Chiefs as the key people at the community level need also to know peace and implement [it] at the lowest level of the county” Fozia said.

“It is important for the chiefs to come together to have harmony among themselves and also to live peacefully with one another for the community to be able to actively participate in the development,” she added.

The five-day peace conference will focus on the roles and responsibilities of the councils of the chiefs, local government act, governance, public order, and securing the peace.

They will also be trained on conflict resolution and their roles as chiefs at the local level said Fozia.

The training will be conducted by the SEAFORD and Active Youth Agency- a local non-governmental organization operating in the area.

 “We will also look at Gender-Based Violence, especially how they can fully support women and girls in the case when there is violence in the community. How they can prevent violence and judge the case if brought before them,” she stressed.

“Would they blame the women or girls or they look at the court? They judge the way it is and give justice to where it belongs and how they can refer them to available service centers such as hospitals or the court,” Fozia stressed.

The government’s peace partners have conducted several communal peace conferences across South Sudan to enhance peaceful co-existence among communities.

However, this year, Western Equatoria State witnessed rare waves of deadly inter-communal violence that has never happened since independence. The most affected area is Tombura County where over 80,000 people have been displaced and several others killed since the beginning of the conflict in May.

Pushing dialogue

Last month, the Country Representative of United Nations High Commissioners for Refugees Arafat Jamal told peace delegates in Jonglei State that community dialogue was central to ending community violence.

“Bringing an end to a practice which destroys lives will only happen if communities take charge and lead the dialogues on the ground, just like we are doing today,” he said.

Inter-communal violence and gender-related violence have become so rampant among communities since the outbreak of the December 2013 conflict that has torn communities apart. Nevertheless, the community peace conferences have had some significant impacts on local communities across the country. In April 2021, the Jonglei and Pibor peace conference resulted in the return of 58 women and children who were abducted in 2020 during cruel inter-communal fighting in Jonglei State.

This was as a result of a community-led agreement between the Lou Nuer, Murle, and Dinka Bor ethnic communities brokered by UNMISS.