Mundari community urged to implement conference resolutions
The Minister of Peace Building in Central Equatoria State, Gerald Francis, has urged the Mundri community to embrace the signed community peace agreement.
He said the community should cultivate a positive attitude towards disputes to deepen their cohesion as one group to avoid fighting with each other.
Francis made the remarks during the closing of the Mundari peace conference, which took place in Juba last week. The event was organised by the church and supported by the partners.
He stressed that the motivation to keep the peace process sustainable was the responsibility of every individual in the Mundari community.
The delegates to the Mundari peace and reconciliation conference held a three-day discussion at the Nyakuron Cultural Centre to find lasting solutions to the persistent and destructive violent conflicts among the Mundari sections.
The delegates strongly condemned any further attempts to incite and stir confrontation among the communities or individuals.
Francis reminded the leaders from the diverse sections of the community that the peace process did not exclusively belong to them but to the Mundari people.
“I, therefore, call upon you to take what we have [talked] over these three days back to your constituency and those you represent. Their ownership of this process [should] be key to its success because, over and above, the categories of victims or perpetrators, mediators or instigators; each one is a Mundari.”
“Should we be through to this, conflict, resilience will be a legacy and inheritance for future generations. A legacy that will be a solid foundation for sustainable peace and community prosperity,” Francis stated.
As the Mundari community moves on with implementing the resolutions of the dialogue, the minister urged the people to be more compassionate to one another.
Francis noted that the recent conference in Juba has proven the Mundari’s concerted desire to find lasting peace.
“The instability that has hit here to within us should from today be thing of the past. Peace and stability should naturally lead to prosperity,” Francis noted.
“Let us not forget our traditional peacebuilding mechanism and where other communities have gained success in resolving the crisis. Let us not hesitate to take lessons learned tenure them to our context of resolving our situation,” he added.
Step forward
Dr Stephen Ameyu, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Juba, hailed the Mundari community for agreeing to engage in discussion to stop killing themselves.
He said the Mundari community has taken a real step toward resolving their problem if they all commit to implementing the resolutions of the conference.
“We must agree for the effective implementation of the resolutions that we have already put in front of us. From now on, as a community and in our villages, we must begin with this genuine peace, ” Archbishop Ameyu said.
“This genuine peace is a product of many of us and therefore, we must begin to act in a very dynamic and changing way so that our people can begin to realise the challenges of implementing this peace but above all how they can realise to leave in peace.”
Ameyu encouraged the Mundari to embrace reconciliation despite the disagreement over some issues.
“We must therefore persevere for the sake of peace, in the hope that constructive exchanges like this one and peaceful acceptance may bring us together for peace and freedom to live together in our own land.”
The delegates to the Juba conference emphasised the importance of continuous dialogue among Mundari elites to consolidate peace, reconciliation, and unity among the communities.
They expressed a strong desire to end sectional conflict and agreed to forgive and reconcile among themselves for the sake of peace and development in Terekeka and Central Equatoria at large.
