Boma State Governor Baba Medan says that he is in agreement with General David Yauyau to restore peace and stability in the state, according his remarks he made to Boma State residents in Juba Sunday evening.

“Yauyau and me have united and agreed to work together for the vision of SPLM because we are members of the same party,” he said. The governor stressed that currently there was peace in his state after the state government restored stability in the area.

He further blamed the recent conflict on politicians whom he accused of having fueled the fighting including illiterate army officers who were organized from Pibor over the last six months. Others in the community had blamed Baba Medan for raising a militia that looted his own state capital last February.

Medan praised the creation of 28 states saying it was aimed at delivering services to the people.

Speaking about his political ambition, the Boma State governor said he would not contest for the governorship of Boma State comes the 2018 election.

 “I want to come to national assembly,” Baba Medan told a rally in Juba on Sunday.

In addition, Medan said his state government handed over to the Ethiopian government a number of 91 children abducted during the 15 April on the Gambella region in Ethiopia. Youths from Medan’s home area have been implicated in the attack, which killed more than 200 people.

Nobody has been punished for the Gambella massacre.

He said the government of Ethiopia is still asking for the recovery of 2000 cattle believed to be still missing. “Collecting of these cattle is ongoing and I will travel again to Ethiopia after briefing the president on the security situation in Boma State,” Medan assured the audience.

“Let us change our speeches from hate and war to peace and unity,” he added.

The governor also ordered that civil servants of Boma State who are still in Juba will continue to receive their salaries up to December this year but will need to report to Pibor after that period. Displaced people from Boma in Juba will be transported back to the state but he did not put a time frame when the operation will take place, he said.

In January 2017, the state headquarters will be demarcated, he said, while making other promises as well.

File photo: David Yauyau, who formerly led the Cobra Faction and served as chief of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area prior to his appointment to the role of deputy minister of defense.