At least 11 Payams in Terekeka County in Central Equatoria State have signed a peace deal to restore sanity and bring stoppage to intercommunal violence stemming from cattle raiding.
This comes after a three-day peace conference organised by Impact Response Committee and the traditional leaders of Terekeka County. The conference—that started on the January 15 and ended on January 17, 2021—brought together thousands of youths and chiefs.
The peace conference was aimed at stopping armed conflict within the county where violent cattle raiding and theft became rampant.
Speaking during the conference, Laku Zechariah Elia Konga, Secretary General of the defunct Terekeka State said the Government was ready to support cattle keepers by offering amicable solutions to their grievances.
Konga appealed to cattle keepers to voluntarily and peacefully return raided cattle to their rightful owners, urging chiefs to aid in the process.
“If we really need peace, I want all of you to voluntarily return the cattle before the Government intervenes. Every chief from different cattle camps knows how many cattle have been taken, and whose cattle.
“We want a report stating that you have a [particular] number of cattle and you want to return them to the owners,” he said.
Konga said failure to heed the community leaders’ plea could result into government intervention.
Lodu Philip Jembeke, Chairperson of Impact Response Committee says the conference came in the wake of clashes among youths from various cattle camps since 2020.
“Many people lost their lives, we did not actually establish the exact number of the deaths but according to the source, they say around 81 [people] died in the conflict and others up to now are not discovered because some of the youths just escaped from their parent’s houses to the cattle camps and they are nowhere to be seen and it is not known whether they are a live or dead,” he said.
Jembeke said the number of cattle raided in all the clashes are enormous and that authorities remained seized with reports of persistent raiding trickling in.
Cattle theft, raiding and migration have become a menace to the communal fights among cattle keepers, that has led to the killing of women and children, destruction of crops and displacement of vulnerable members of the community.
Ananias Yange Peter, the Secretary of Impact Response Committee says the committee was determined to restore peace, unity and harmony in Terekeka County and neighboring communities.
“We have taken this initiative to reconcile the whole community of the defunct Terekeka State, especially the cattle camp leaders who have been affected by the communal conflicts,” Yange said.
According to Yange, there were elven causes of the cattle keepers conflict in Terekeka County, including injustice and bribery in the traditional courts, possession of firearms by civilians, high bride prices, sexual assaults and rape, conflict over water points, grazing lands, and cattle theft.
Government officials from Central Equatoria State called for stability and peaceful coexistence among the Mundari people during the conference, the delegates unanimously decided to stop the violent against each other from the date of signing the agreement and they came up with resolutions.
Yange said the committee was determined that all stolen and raided cows and goats were to be returned to the rightful owners.
“On the issue of returning the stolen cattle and goats, the conference resolved to form a mobile court that will be supported by the organized forces. And for the firearms, there would be a comprehensive and inclusive disarmament nationwide,” he said as he reads out the resolutions.
On the issue of Justices, the Government was urged to facilitate judicial system to deliver effective judgment on the problems related to the cattle theft and raiding.
The Impact Response Committee appealed to the government of Central Equatoria State to facilitate the implementation of the resolutions of the conference in order to avoid future occurrence of the conflict in Terekeka County.