The Eastern Equatoria State government and members of Parliament at the national legislature have agreed to work for peace and development in the state.

This was resolved during a three-day conference held in Torit that brought all the politicians from Eastern Equatoria State together to discuss security and development in their area.

The Head of the Eastern Equatoria Parliamentary Caucus in the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly, Julius Moilinga, said for the state to develop, there should be security.

 “As soon as the resolution is passed, that is the moment we don’t have any time. It must be started from the end of the dot of the sentence. It doesn’t need to wait another time, especially in the area of security, because we have agreed that security should be a priority, ” Moilinga told The City Review in a telephone interview yesterday.

“Urgency of the matter is very important because we are doing it for the interest of the people, working together is the decision and it is the will of the people,” he added.

Among the resolutions passed include the call for an end to the sporadic inter and intra-village conflicts in Hiyala Payam of Torit County. They agreed to form a hybrid committee to study the conflict and suggest solutions, as well as the evacuation of cattle from Magwi County back to Jonglei State.

The leaders appealed for the relocation of the Tiger Division from Magwi County for the police to take up the responsibility of security in the area.

The conference resolved to forward the dispute over the County of Lafon to the Council of States for further deliberations and resolutions.

To address the issue of protracted child abduction in the state, they called for an urgent meeting with the Greater Pibor Administrative Area to address the return of the abducted children.

They also resolved that logging and commercialisation of charcoal activities should be regulated, as well as mining activities.

They also agreed on the mobilisation of both domestic and external resources for service delivery to the people.

The conference also appealed to the national government to allocate funds for service delivery to the communities living along the borders. It also endorsed the Eastern Equatoria State Mid-Term Development Plan 2022-2025 and the recommendation of an annual Eastern Equatoria State Leadership Conference.

However, Governor Louis Lobong Lojore appealed to political leaders in the state to unite together to deliver services to the people of the state.

“We need to make sure that our state is peaceful. We need to see that our people get the services they need, ” he said.