Lobong, Amee meet in Jebel Boma for peace mission
The governors of Eastern Equatoria State, Louis Lobong Lojore, and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA), Lokoli Amee, have embarked on a new peace mission between the two areas.
The two leaders arrived in Jebel Boma County, Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA), on Sunday to lobby for a revitalised relationship between the Toposa and the Murle that had been feuding over cattle raids.
The mission is also prompted by the recent movement of the Toposa pastoralists towards Boma in search of pastures for the cattle. The two leaders reignited their commitment to ensuring their communities revisit their past relationships.
“This is not the time for our people to engage in conflict while people in other parts of the country are talking about development. We must denounce conflict and join the success story of nation-building,” Lobong emphasised.
Amee vowed to cooperate with Eastern Equatoria State for peace, cooperation, and relations to improve the two areas.
“As leaders, we are committed to resolving the disputes among our people so that they can live in peace with one another,” Lokole said.
Lobong and Lokole are also expected to hold talks with communities that border Ethiopia to backtrack on issues related to the South Sudan border.
Political retreat
In September 2021, the leaders of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) held a three-day retreat to address issues of political differences and how to counter cattle raids, age-set youth violence, and child abduction.
According to the information from UNDP, the retreat was organised by the UNMISS Civil Affairs Division, as well as the UNDP’s Peace and Community Cohesion Project through funding from the Swedish government.
Amee was optimistic that the retreat would empower leaders to jointly solve cattle raids and child abductions among their youth.
“We are gathered here to have peace, unity, and reconciliation in Pibor, and to stop the fighting. We need this to be the outcome of this retreat. If we become one, we will move out of this retreat with one voice and ask the [community] and especially the youth to stop raiding our neighbour’s cattle or abducting children,” said Lokoli.
Lokoli added that his administration would introduce other sources of livelihood to create a change of mindset among the youth in GPAA through robust learning opportunities and agriculture.
“We also need to get out and dialogue with the youth in different counties to understand why they engage in these vices and how we can help them,” he said.
The UNMISS Head of Civil Affairs, Hazel De Wet, was hopeful that peace would prevail after the contents of the retreat are imparted to them.
“The narrative of the Greater Pibor area has for too long been negative, I am extremely encouraged to hear that over the next three days there will be discussions on how to cement peace in the interest of the entire community,” said Hazel.
The deputy minister for information in GPAA, Baba Medan Konyi, said that Greater Pibor was rich in resources that had been masked by communal conflicts.
“Greater Pibor is very rich [in resources] but we are not seeing these resources because of the crisis and the conflict between Murle, Nuer, Dinka, and so forth.
“We need peace to see the fruits of our resources in Pibor. We need to focus on the agenda and commit ourselves to whatever we discuss. Let us take forth the agreements of this conference. I request that the senior leadership of Greater Pibor follow the recommendations which will come up from us [during the retreat], and then the implementation they will take forth,” Medan said.
The UNDP Resident Representative Samuel G. Doe pledged their support for the community and leaders’ empowerment for the attainment of development goals.
“A society will not thrive without peace. If we can give all that we have towards peace, then we build a foundation for development. I want to encourage all of you in this retreat to look beyond what history has written no matter what we have done to one another. Recognise that South Sudan, and Pibor specifically, can be in a place of reconciliation and peace,” Doe said.
