By Simon Deng
Communities of the Dinka Bor in South Sudan’s Jonglei State are set to hold a conflict mitigating consultative meeting with their neighbors, the Murle from Greater Pibor Administrative Area.
The meeting set for next week is aimed at paving the way for reconciliation and restoration of peace in the restive region, Jay Adingora Alual, the Minister for Information, Culture, Youth and Sports in Greater Pibor Administrative Area said by phone.
The two communities have often been engaged in fatal confrontations linked with cattle rustling, child abduction and revenge attacks.
The proliferation of guns in civilian hands have grossly aggravated the violence leading to endemic insecurity in the region.
According to a human rights report released by UNMISS and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, intercommunal violence intensified in Jonglei and the Greater Pibor area Between January and August last year, with thousands of fighters from the Dinka, Nuer and Murle militias conducting coordinated attacks which displaced entire villages.
Hundreds of people were killed and wounded, women were raped, and children abducted.
Earlier in June 2020, President Salva Kiir appointed a High-Level Committee, headed by James Wani Igga, the Vice President for economic cluster who previously held consultations with feuding groups in response to violence but further action to stem the outbreak of violence and address its root causes remain ineffective.
“The road to Pibor is not yet accessible, the road is blocked because of the insecurity there. There are no commodities in the market in Pibor town because of insecurity,” Alual said.
“As we speak, the governor of Jonglei and the chief administrator of Pibor are in communication,” Alual said.
“On February 17, there will be a consultative meeting between some representatives from Bor and also from Greater Pibor so that they discuss the way forward and how the conference be organized so that these two rivaling communities might come together and understand themselves.”
