The national Minister of Peacebuilding Stephen Par Kuol has said the recently distressed Tombura County is now ‘‘calm and controlled’’. 

In an inclusive interview with The City Review yesterday, Mr. Kuol confirmed that the war-torn county was under control and soon everything revert to full normalcy. 

“The situation in Tombura has been contained, the major element of violence there has been removed. The forces that have been fighting in the area are now separated,” Kuol said.

He went on to add: “The government through the committee sent to Tombura is doing tremendous work, and working hard to see into it that some of those forces are getting into the barracks. I hope soon some of them will be in cantonment and barracks.’’

The minister said the forces of the two suspected conflicting groups have been evacuated from the area and there were underway plans to relocate them to the cantonment sites to start their process of reunification.

However, Kuol urged the citizens across the country to embark on peace as the government looks forward to providing services to them.

“What I can tell our people and request the public is that peace is very important for us as South Sudanese so the only thing we can do now is to embark on peace and embrace peace among ourselves,” he said.

“Let us forgive each other and forget the past,” Kuol added.

More confidence

The official exuded confidence that about 90 percent of political violence across the country has been put off.

Last month, the peace monitors said the crisis in Tombura County of Western Equatoria State remained a serious concern as it poses a major threat to the implementation process of the 2018 peace accord.

In their joint statement, the group said the conflict in Tombura is a looming risk that may escalate and could endanger the vulnerable populations. They added the crisis could worsen the dire humanitarian situation as well as threaten the implementation of the peace agreement.

They recommended an urgent separation of forces besides the necessity to undertake dialogue and reconciliation between the communities in Tombura.

This came after a team comprising the Intergovernmental Authority on Development [IGAD], Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission [RJMEC], and members of the diplomatic mission visited the area.

The visit to the troubled country was geared towards assessing the causes of conflicts and fronting probable remedies for the same.

The peace monitoring team made recommendations to the national and state governments urging them to take responsibility to end the conflicts that had plagued Western Equatoria State.

Where it all began

Tombura County plunged into inter-communal fights in May this year. Since then, an estimated 45,000 people have been displaced to neighboring towns of Ezo, Yambio, and Western Bahr el ghazal capital, Wau.

In September 2021, President Salva Kiir formed a high-level committee to address the crises in Tombura County. The committee was led by Lt. Gen. Wisely Welebe who were tasked to engage the parties to the conflict in Tombura County through peaceful dialogue.

The committee was also tasked to ensure the forces in Tombura and other areas under SSPDF Maj. Gen. James Nando are transferred to the Maridi training center.

However, several sources on the ground have said although the gun was silent, the situation remains tense.