The greater Tonj peace conference concluded on Thursday with a call for the peaceful and total disarmament of civilians in Tonj North, Tonj East, and Tonj South counties.
The three-day conference attended by over 200 representatives from three counties was organized by the Warrap State government with support from a consortium of humanitarian organizations including UNDP, The Organization for Children’s Harmony (TOCH), and UNMISS.
William Wol Mayom, the Warrap State information minister, told Radio Tamazuj Friday that the conference resolved to embrace peace.
“The governor and his officials are in Tonj town for the conference which started on Tuesday and concluded yesterday (Thursday) with resolutions to disarm civilians across Warrap and neighboring states compressively,” he said. “There should also be the delivery of services like the provision of water sources to avoid conflict in water-scarce areas and the establishment of mobile and special courts to try cases.”
Wol suggested that there should be an inter-state conference to discuss issues related to cross-border murders and cattle theft.
Achol Majok, a woman representative from Tonj South said they came up with guidelines to mitigate lawlessness.
“We have been discussing peace in Tonj South so that people have peace that is why we made laws to manage people because some youth are involved in criminal activities like cattle rustling, elopement, and murder along the borders,” she said. “Others grab land and that is why we made laws and we want the government to bring more police so that wrongdoers are apprehended and punished by law.”
Meanwhile, Ayii Agiu, a chief from Tonj North County, said peaceful disarmament is the only solution to bringing violence to an end.
“We were discussing peace so that we increase awareness when we go back to our respective counties so that people do not fight again. We will continue talking to our communities to hand over guns to the government,” he said. “The conflict has reduced as people keep talking about peace and the big problem is that other states have not disarmed their people. Our armed youth listen to us but they fear that their lives and property will be exposed to danger from armed elements from other states.”