Farmers and pastoralists are like oil and water but solutions can be found

There have been serious concerns of potential armed violence in Eastern Equatoria State’s Magwi County due to the influx of pastoralists into the area if the national government does not intervene to beef up security.

Early this week, there was a video clip circulating on social media showing a large number of armed men—some in military uniforms— entering Agoro Payam, Mawgi County. The video itself looks scary and seems like those armed civilians, presumably men from the pastoralists’ community, we’re going for a confrontation.

Also, the area chief of Agoro Payam raised an alarm about the situation in Magwi. He noted that the level of hate speech between the pastoralists and the farmers in the area had increased as the two communities had started arming themselves.

Despite the concerns raised by the chief of Agoro Payam and the Governor of Eastern Equatoria State about the presence of the illegal training camp that has been opened in the area, no response has been heard for the national government. The government needs to take the looming conflict between the farming and pastoralist communities very seriously to solve the issues of the cattle keepers.

It is very important to stop this problem at its very early stage before it escalates. A good disaster management approach is the ability to respond on time before it happens. The tension that is building up in Magwi County, particularly in Agoro Payam, between the farmers and cattle herders, is a disaster that is foreseen by the majority. It needs an urgent response to prevent it from occurring.    

The 2017 presidential order for the removal of cattle from the areas of farming communities in the Equatoria region needs to be enforced to allow the farmers to resume their activities. Everybody is aware that this order has never been respected and fully implemented since it was issued.  

The cattle keepers have been rotating between Magwi and Lobonok. They could go and spend some months in Lobonok, and when issues arise between them and the farmers in Lobonok, they withdraw to Magwi. This has been their tactic throughout the seasons for the last four years.  

Several dialogues and agreements have been signed between the herders and the host communities, who are predominately farmers, but all have proved futile. Therefore, the state government, with the help of the national government, needs to find lasting solutions to the problems of cattle herders. The best solution is to drive the herders out of the area.

There is nowhere in the world where farming communities and pastoralists have peacefully co-existed. The two have never coexisted unless we want to use Magwi and Lobonok as a pilot project to examine whether pastoralists can co-exist among farming communities.