Leadership Disputes Stall Peace Efforts in South Sudan's Tombura County
Leadership Disputes Stall Peace Efforts in South Sudan's Tombura County
By Baraka John
The South Sudan Council of Churches lamented that differences among the state leadership are hindering the planned peace conference intended to reconcile the divided community of Tombura County.
Morris Okwera who is a mediation coordinator with the South Sudan Council of Churches told the Rurugene online newsletter, that the people on the ground need the conference but the resistance is from the State leadership.
“The people want the conference so that they discuss the violent conflict that happened in 2021. Now this is the fourth postponement of this conference and all are being done by the leaders. We have realized that the fight now is not the community themselves seems it’s the leadership”. Okwera disclosed
He added that the community in Tombura has been put hostage not to decide for themselves, they cannot answer for themselves due to differences between leaders.
According to Okwera, the South Sudan Council of Churches in collaboration with the national ministry of peace-building initiated a peace conference to reconcile the fragmented communities of Tombura who were involved in a deadly inter-communal conflict that claimed hundreds of lives and displaced thousands.
“We are requesting the community to keep calm as time continues to ripe so that the hearts of the leaders soften. The commissioner was the very one who announced the date for this conference, supposed to be on the 4th of March, but the leaders in Juba resisted and agreed that the date should be 18th -24th March 2024. So, the council has been working closely with them”. He added
Okwera said the peace conference was postponed after the commissioner of Tombura county Mathew Mabenge wrote a letter to the South Sudan Council of Churches suspending the initiative due to what the commissioner mentioned lack of coordination among the South Sudan Council of churches, the state leadership, and county authorities.
“After receiving the letter from the Commissioner of Tombura County postponing the conference, we the South Sudan Council of churches and the National Ministry of Peace-building convened a meeting and called off the conference until the differences are resolved”.
The South Sudan Council of churches mediation coordinator has urged authorities in Tombura County and the state leadership to sort out their differences, to pave the way for the conduct of the peace conference intended to reconcile the divided communities in Tombura.
In an interview with the commissioner of Tombura County on Monday, Mathew Mabenge noted that there is no clear source of funding for the process and, a lack of proper security arrangements to safeguard the conference and reconciliation of the two leaders of the ethnic groups involved in the 2021 conflict.
In his letter, Commissioner Mabenge cited a lack of communication between the South Sudan Council of Churches and the relevant authorities on the ground, and the budget preparation was not shared with the county authority, including the sub-service committees’ budgets with their different functions were not put in place.
“We went for a consultative meeting in Juba, secondly in Yambio and thirdly in Rwanda, there were about five resolutions from all these meetings that were supposed to take place before the conference, so all this was in vain nothing was implemented”.
Mabenge further said, “Just recently they came (South Sudan Council of Churches) and said there is a conference on the 18th without implementation of these resolutions that we had during the consultative meetings. So, we could not accept the conference to take place because of the insecurity and the inconvenience between the two traditional leaders”.
Reacting to the financing of the conference, Morris Okwera said, the peace conference is solely being funded by peace partners except for security provision to safeguard the conference which is entirely the responsibility of the state government and the local authority in the county.
“There is no money the church or the partners earmarked to support the security, and that was clear from our engagement from the beginning; security is the responsibility of the state, so they have to bear their responsibility”, Okwere added.
Meanwhile, Governor Alfred Futuyo in a media address on Monday said, the state government has supported the peace conference both financially and security-wise, citing his government commitment to restore lasting peace in Tombura County.
“We wanted to go to the peace conference this week, but there was a misunderstanding between the commissioner and the team organizing the conference. So, the team received a letter from the commissioner that he had suspended the conference. However, for me as the state governor, I am not part of the suspension of the conference”, Hon. Futuro said.
He added; “I am willing and ready for this conference to take place to reconcile the community so that they begin to live together. Last Sunday I mobilized a security force to go and safeguard the conference. I also offer money to the South Sudan Council of Churches to facilitate this conference”, Hon. Futuyo explained.
In 2021violent conflict broke out between Azande and Balanda communities living in Tombura County, the violence witnessed the destruction of the social fabric including killings of civil population and displacement of thousands to neighboring counties and states.
