By Hou Akot Hou
The annual peace conference between Dinka Malual of Northern Bahr El Ghazal State and Misseriya, Rezigat normadic tribes of neighboring Sudan has been postponed till March.
This was revealed Tuesday by William Kolong Pioth, the Northern Bahr El Ghazal State Coordinator.
“We want the government of Northern Bahr El Gazal and that of Southern Kordofan to have their government officials present in the upcoming event. The peace conference annually helps us brainstorm on how to live harmoniously and address other skirmishes that might have occurred in the previous or the current year,” Kolong told Juba Echo in Aweil town.
The rescheduled meeting came on the heels of the cold blooded murder on January 13thof the Warguet Payam administrator, Santino Akech Angok and his deputy Arol Yai.
The two deceased local officials were gunned down by a suspected Misseriya man who allegedly had conflict with the Warguet payam authorities over property he accused them of confiscating some years back.
Kolong said some officials in Aweil are extorting the Misseriya and Rezigat herders whenever they cross into Northern Bahr El GFhazal State with their animals.
“Some people sneak into the forests where the Misseriya and Rezigat camp with their cattle and ask money from the herders, and that money is levied on the horses or donkeys,” he said.
The misseriya and Rezigat always migrate with their cattle to neighboring Northern Bahr El Ghazal during the ongoing dry season.
Kolong said that the responsibility to levy taxes on the Sudanese pastoralists lies with the state revenue authority.
He urged people in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State to maintain peace with border tribes in Sudan.
