UPA’s Pagan Amum says despite the previous disagreement over the signed eight protocols, they have reached a compromise on the protocol on communal conflicts and land disputes in South Sudan.

By Lodu William Odiya

The opposition leaders at the Tumaini initiative said cattle rustling among pastoralists and farming communities is among the major causes of their struggle.

The statement was shared by the United People’s Alliance leader, Pagan Amum, who co-chaired the discussion in the Kenya-led Tumaini Initiative talks for sustainable peace in South Sudan on Sunday.

“The community conflict either resulting from cattle rustling or from conflict between the cattle herders and farming communities is an endemic crisis and it’s actually one of the issues we are discussing in the Tumaini initiative,” he said.

 “As you can see in Aru junction and other places, our citizens are made to fight, to kill themselves without any intervention. The communities are armed and there is nothing that the government can do about it. This is very unfortunate,” Amum added.

He said despite the previous disagreement over the signed eight protocols, they have reached a compromise on the protocol on communal conflicts and land disputes in South Sudan.

 “We have discussed the root causes of this conflict and also have pointed out what is wrong and why it is happening in South Sudan.”

According to him, one aspect is the state’s failure to carry out its function which is to protect the lives and property of civilians before even providing development.

The second aspect is the rule of law, maintaining security apart from protecting the country from any aggression.

“Our government is not able to carry out this to make it worse; our actors in the government are arming their communities,” Amum stated.

“It is on both sides of the conflict always, our communities are armed to go and fight themselves. This develops into aggression toward the other communities because they take the law into their hands.”

The opposition leader noted that the communal conflict often creates insecurity in the country which has severe consequences on the economy.

Also, he said that subsistence farming which has been the mainstream of providing food for the people has collapsed due to the insecurity in the country sites causing people to get displaced into towns or to leave the country into refugee camps.

“As we speak, the number of South Sudanese moving into refuge in the neighboring countries is increasing,” Amum said.

He unveiled that the opposition is providing a protocol in the Tumaini consensus having learned the lesson on the failure of implementation of the other agreements.

“The solutions are starting ranging from rebuilding the state including the security sector and strengthening law enforcement agencies, establishing the rule of law in the country and a responsive government to the needs of the people.

“We have discussed the root causes of this conflict and also have pointed out what is wrong and why it is happening in South Sudan,” United People’s Alliance leader, Pagan Amum.