Abraham Gum, the new governor of Gogrial State, home of President Salva Kiir, has pledged to work together with his colleagues in neighbouring states to promote peaceful coexistence and to work together with citizens in the area to restore unity among people.

"We are going to work together, all of us to restore trust, hope, love and unity of our people in the government and in them. Our priority as the government under my leadership will be to promote social cohesion in order for us to concentrate on development of our area especially on the area of agriculture. We have to encourage our people to take it seriously,” said Abraham Gum.

He was responding to an inquiry about his priorities as the first governor of Gogrial State. Gum said he has held a community gathering over the weekend at which he told citizens that he has agreed with his counterparts from Tonj and Twic states on the issue of security and peaceful coexistence.

He said he has asked forgiveness between the government and the citizens in order to begin a new page. “I told our people and this is the message the media should convey to those who did not attend the meeting on Saturday. I told the community that the country is in search of peace, unity and reconciliation and this must start with us as individuals and government.”

“If there were things that were done in the past, if there were mistakes in the past, they should be abandoned and open a new page and move on. We don't want our people to live in the past,” he explained.

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New Tonj governor says priority is uniting communities