S. Sudan peace committee starts consultations in Warrap
July 1, 2015 (JUBA) – Officials from South Sudan’s peace committee have started community consultations in Warrap state after weeks of grassroots campaigns in Juba.
Peter Kuot, the committee’s communication manager, said the community consultations were facilitated by the 55 peace mobilisers trained in the state between April and May.
Six lead peace mobilisers, he said, oversaw the training of the 55 peace mobilisers reportedly grouped to 13 teams composing of four to five peace mobilizers each team. Each team was given a task of facilitating one payam consultation per week, resulting in the 13 teams covering 39 payams in just three weeks.
Warrap State, according to Kuot, comprised of 42 Payams which will all be covered by the ongoing process. Kuacjok which is the State Head Quarters has also been considered for consultations, making a total of 43 consultations. The remaining 4 consultations will be covered in a week to conclude the process of Payam consultations in Warrap State.
“During the consultations at Payam levels that were attended by women, youth, chiefs, elders and religious leaders, communities were asked to voice out their internal and external grievances that present their community with obstacles to peace and harmony among themselves and with others,” said Kuot.
“The issues presented by the communities have been documented by the peace mobilisers into reports that the Committee for National Healing Peace and Reconciliation will use in developing a national agenda for healing, peace and reconciliation”, he added.
He said the committee plans to hold county conferences after holding consultation in all those counties and expected to be attended by delegates nominated by their Payams during the consultations. Representatives from different payams and communities will discuss community issues raised at the payam consultations at the county conferences.
A similar process will be conducted at county level and presented at one big conference.
Similar consultation, he added, will be done in all the ten states and Abyei Administrative Area throughout 2015 to 2016.
Warrap is the pilot state of the committee’s three-year vision of collecting narratives from the people of South Sudan at the grassroots to ensure that South Sudan’s reconciliation journey is driven and shaped by its citizens’ rich experiences, knowledge, and needs.
(ST)