South Sudan’s Lou Nuer refugees reconcile after dispute in Kakuma camp

January 3, 2016 (KAKUMA) – A South Sudanese community from the Lou-Nuer sub-tribe has announced to have resolved their intra-communal conflict which stemmed from community leadership wrangling among their refugees living in the neighboring Kenya.

Dak clan of Lou-Nuer community, known as the D3 because of their three major clans which inhabit Uror county in Jonglei state, said conflict arose between two of their clans members of Yol Dak and Boor Dak over which of them should take the leadership of the community this year, 2016, in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya.

A team from the D3 leadership based in Nairobi was dispatched to Kakuma refugee camp last week to help reconcile the community, announcing the success of the reconciliation leading to amicable understanding on the way forward.

Duop Lony Machar, chairperson of Dak community in Nairobi told Sudan Tribune that the three communities of Dak have finally agreed to abolish the rotational mechanism and revert to free elections where competing candidates can come from any of the D3 sections.

He however said the community has agreed to conduct elections after two years and provided for an interim period of two years during which Yol Dak community will lead for the first one year, 2016, while Boor Dak will lead in the second year, 2017, leading to elections.

Before selecting and swearing in the first chairman from Yol Dak for the 2016 leadership, Machar said the community agreed that an interim committee will run the affairs of the D3 until the new leadership takes over.

“Both parties agreed to form an interim committee who will run the community affairs until leadership in place in early 2016, and agreed that the former chairpersons of 2013 and 2014 respectively shall gather and report all the previous assets and items (including money, documentations and grains) to that interim committee,” he said.

He also added that the community had agreed to draft a constitution and which will be ready in June 2016, adding that drafting process will take six months.

The mediation team comprised 11 members from the three communities, whose thousands of their members fled to Kakuma refugee camp due to previous civil war with the former Sudan as well as due to the recent conflict in South Sudan.

(ST)