A South Sudanese civil society organization has urged President Salva Kiir to tackle inter-communal clashes, which has caused massive losses this year.
Kiir, Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) said in a statement, should declare effective decisions for mitigation.
“Among the key decisions or actions is strategy to tackle the politicians who are utilizing inter-communal clashes as a method of winning political change either at state or county government, strengthening local capacities for peace dialogues among communities and control of arms in the hands of civilians,” Edmund Yakani, CEPO’s executive director said Friday.
According to CEPO, inter-communal violence led to loss of 510,000 independently verified human lives, saw properties worth 2, 300,000 South Sudanese Pounds (about 100,000 USD) destroyed, 139,000 families displaced and more than 189 children abducted in 2018.
The civil society entity, however, said it believes the independently verified figures did not represent exact estimates of the actual lives lost, properties destroyed and children said to have been abducted.
Some cases of inter-communal clashes, it added, were not verified.
“CEPO is calling for the government in 2019 to prioritize development or actualize policies and laws that prevent inter-communal clashes. The main triggers for the inter-communal clashes are arms proliferation, cattle raids and revenge attacks,” stressed Yakani.
CEPO says it intends to petition the national parliament to table a strategy for addressing inter-communal clashes across the country.
The causes of inter-communal violence in South Sudan range from arms proliferation to cattle raids and the practice is witnessed in several states.
On Wednesday, fighting between the communities of Pakam and Luanyjang left at least 12 people dead and 45 others injured in Western Lakes State.