South Sudan tribal chiefs to converge in Bentiu as violence upsurges

By James Gatdet Dak

May 14, 2009 (JUBA) – Tribal chiefs from all the ten states of Southern Sudan will converge in Bentiu, the capital of Unity state, from 17th May to discuss the way forward as tribal and inter-tribal clashes escalate in the region.

The all-inclusive conference, and first of its kind during the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) implementation, will bring together hundreds, if not thousands, of chiefs from various Payams of the current 78 Counties in Southern Sudan, the office of the Vice President has confirmed.

The chiefs will discuss the increasing inter-community and intra-community deadly clashes which have befallen the people of Southern Sudan, and what should be done collectively to try to avert such a situation.

Top on the agenda is also expected to include disarmament process of the civilian population and how effective it could be implemented.

In its extra-ordinary meeting last month, the Political Bureau of the ruling party in the region, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), passed a resolution for convening of the all-inclusive chiefs’ conference this month to address the growing insecurity situation.

In Juba, chiefs from Central Equatoria state left for Bentiu on Wednesday to participate in the conference.

Southern Sudan local populations have been devastated by deadly clashes between clans of the same community or against another community over cattle rustling, competition over water points and grazing lands and revenges for past murders or killings during open confrontations.

The most affected states by such conflicts during the past four years of the six-year interim period of the CPA included Lakes, Jonglei and Warrap states where Dinka rival clans attack one another in the two states of Greater Bahr el Ghazal, and in some instances Lakes youth carry out deadly assaults on Warrap state and vice versa.

In Jonglei state Lou-Nuer clan vs Murle tribe, Dinka Bor vs Murle, or in some instances Dinka vs Lou-Nuer have become the order of the day. Until recently the tribal clashes also involved Bari vs Mundari communities in Central Equatoria state and Lou-Nuer vs Jikany-Nuer clans as clashes spread into Upper Nile state.

Other respective states in the South have also involved in such conflicts in similar or different forms, though some with minimal magnitude.

“Such local conflicts are not new in the history of South Sudan, but their recent increase in death tolls and intensity during the supposedly peace time raises more questions than answers and is a very big concern to the government and ordinary citizens alike,” says an official of the Government of Southern Sudan who preferred to remain anonymous.

The official continued to lament that “this situation in which a neighbor turns against neighbor and brother against brother is like a curse attached to the process of implementing the CPA,” and warned that this trend may unfortunately continue or even increase beyond the interim period unless the Government takes drastic security, social and basic service delivery measures.

A handful of government officials or politicians at different levels of government in Southern Sudan and in Khartoum are believed to have perpetuated or fuelled the conflicts. President Salva Kiir Mayardit of the semi-autonomous Government last month warned against such politicians.

In the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, some deliberations on insecurity situation in the region point fingers to some state governors as some members of parliament accuse their respective state governors or politicians of allegedly arming their clans’ youth to attack other clans or communities.

President Kiir is expected to officially open the chiefs’ conference in Bentiu on Sunday.

It is not yet clear what positive impact the Bentiu chiefs’ conference will practically bring to end this vicious cycle of violence which engulfs the whole of Southern Sudan as previous mini reconciliation conferences or peace-making efforts in various states had not reduced the scale of violence.

Officials, however, express optimism in their efforts to reduce the violence before the conduct of the upcoming general elections in February 2010 and referendum in January 2011.

(ST)