Sudan’s Warrap traditional leaders form council for peace

TONJ, Sept 29 – Over one hundred chiefs from Warrap State have formed a council in Tonj to strengthen their positions as traditional leaders and to be able to deal more effectively with inter-clan conflict that residents say has killed thousands of people since the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

The Council of Traditional Leaders of Warrap State is the fifth such state council, with similar bodies already formed in Eastern, Western and Central Equatoria and also in Lakes State.

“This is the beginning of the progress of our unity,” a member of the new council said. Often separated by large distances and insecurity, Warrap’s chiefs may be the backbone of the mostly rural communities but have found building links and communication difficult.

While they have long been promised empowerment as the grassroots level of local government, their exact role in peacetime South Sudan has remained elusive. A local government bill that would decide responsibilities and whether or not and how they would be paid has still not been passed.

The meeting was attended in its first three days by South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit who spoke with passion about the inter-clan and inter-tribal killings that have continued to plague the state. “You are killing yourselves,” he said.

Kiir told Warrap State chiefs in attendance that their powers had not been taken from them by the executive part of the government but, in practical terms, by the judiciary.

“Matters are being taken by judges that are supposed to be addressed by the chiefs who know about what is happening to their people,” Kiir continued, explaining that in this way the chiefs had been side-lined as administrators of justice even on family problems.

He promised the chiefs that he would talk to the Chief Justice who heads up the South’s judiciary about how traditional legal powers could be returned to the chiefs.

COUNCIL

The 15-member executive council includes representatives from all of the state’s six counties and also from Abyei, which may choose to join Warrap in 2011 when its citizens are given a vote. A representative from the small Bongo tribe was also included in the body.

Principles of the council include inclusiveness – all ethnic groups and languages must be represented equally irrespective of the size of the group – and the chiefs agreed that the council should be apolitical.

“This body will be important as advocacy for the chiefs, to make sure they are heard,” a representative from the Local Government Board Nicodemo Arou Man said.

This council agreed to meet at least once a year and to locate a central office or meeting hall in Kuacjok. The three executive positions of treasurer, secretary and chairperson were filled by Chief Peter Mawien Mawien, Chief Baket Makuac Abiam and Chief Jacob Lang Madel respectively.

High on the priorities list for the council included finding some way to assist in halting inter-clan fighting in the state.

PEACE DEAL

The Agouk, Kuac Ayok and Apuk ethnic groups this week agreed to a peace deal after severe conflict earlier this year killed dozens and displaced hundreds of people. The deal was overseen by President Kiir who is from the wider area and who called on them to take the blessing of peace back to their home areas.

Madel said that the chiefs had undertaken an important step already towards organizing themselves but that there were considerable challenges ahead. “Reconciliation is very easy to talk but to maintain it, to make sure people do not return to fighting is a big challenge,” he said.

The state government also handed out eight medals to chiefs; four for long-serving chiefs and four for those who had been important peacemakers.

(ST)