The Jikany Nuer Community in South Sudan’s Unity State on Sunday committed to ending retaliatory killings.
The resolution was reached during a four-day conference attended by more than 300 community representatives from the different payams of Guit County. The representatives of the Jikany also agreed to reconcile and desist from any form of violence against each other.
The Jikany elders, political and military leaders, chiefs, youth, and women representatives vowed to embrace and respect the resolutions of the conference and unanimously signed what is now called the Thoan Declaration.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj after the signing ceremony, Rev. Peter Gatdet Gatwich, the chairperson of the Jikany High Committee, appreciated the participants of the conference for resolving and agreeing to end the culture of revenge killings, accepting to forgive, and agreeing to live in peace and harmony.
“The State government will implement the resolutions of the “Thoan Declaration” as long as the Jikany Community agree on the principles to guide them towards achieving peace and stability in Guit County,” said Rev. Gatdet.
He urged the community to respect the resolutions and warned the youth of severe consequences if they violate the Thoan Declaration.
“We all forgive those who committed crimes and are still hiding, and they have to come home and join this peace and open a new chapter of peace and reconciliation,” he said. “The Jikany Community has agreed that if someone is killed intentionally, he or she will be killed. If you have been among those people always attending meetings discussing revenge killings, you will be sentenced to death according to the Jikany community resolutions.”
On his part, Guit County Commissioner Kaway Chany said the Jikany Community agreed live in peace as brothers and sisters, adding that the Jikany are peacemakers and trustworthy people.
“If peace prevails in Guit County and among Jikany Community, it will also be in the best interest of the county and state authorities to see our people live peacefully,” Chany said. “We agreed to kill those supporting revenge killings in Guit County. The resolutions are in effect and will be implemented when someone violates them.”
The governor of Unity state, Dr. Joseph Manytuil, appealed to the Jikany Community to shun the culture of revenge killings for peace to prevail.
He said the state government will implement the Thoan Declaration’s resolutions as long as the Jikany Community agree on principles to guide them towards achieving peace and stability in Guit County.
The Jikany community’s intra-violence is dated back to 2005 and peaked last year when a senior army officer and an NGO staffer were killed in targeted revenge killings.