Civil society groups in Unity state trained on peace building
December 8, 2013 (BENTIU) -South Sudan peace and Reconciliation commission on Friday conducted a peace building and conflict mitigation training for civil society organisations in Unity state.
The training comes on the heels of recent deadly conflicts over land disputes between Rubkotna and Guit residents.
A dozen people were killed in the conflict.
The conflict between the two communities has not yet been resolved with allegations that it is being fuelled by some local politicians.
James Gatguok, state coordinator for peace and reconciliation commission told Sudan Tribune on Friday in Bentiue town that the civil society groups will use the acquired skills to resolve conflicts and extend peace awareness messages in the communities.
Gatguok said the organisations will help in identification of the root causes of the conflicts in the communities.
‘‘Together with the county commissioners they [civil society organisations] will identify the root causes of those conflicts that are occurring in their respective counties,’’ said Gatguok.
He also said that peace committees will be established in each of the nine counties in the state.
.“If the commissioner at the county work together with their county peace committee, I think we can even reduce much on the conflicts in these areas. We are pushing all international organizations to build our capacity [on peace] so our local organizations can be able to do the peace work,’’ he said.
Lat Kuem, chairperson of civil society groups in Unity state welcomed the initiative by South Sudan peace and Reconciliation, but said poor roads was a hindrance to their peace building work as some of the areas are inaccessible.
“The challenge that we are facing is accessing sites. You know going to the villages or Buma or Payam level is very challenging. We are not reaching such areas,’’ Kuem told Sudan Tribune.
Kuem, however, acknowledged that the peace and conflict mitigation training was beneficial to the civil society organisations.
South Sudan Peace and reconciliation commission urged the local communities to work with the government in preventing and ending conflicts in their communities.
(ST)