A three-day community peace conference that concluded in Leer County in Unity State over the weekend resolved to form joint security forces comprising SPLA-IO and SSPDF and to establish a court composed of three members each from Koch, Leer, Panyijar, and Mayiendit counties.
The commissioner of Leer County, Stephen Taker Riek, told Radio Tamazuj Tuesday that the participants also resolved that raided cattle be returned to their rightful owners.
“Blood compensation is one of the major problems and I think it will be the first issue to be solved because we agreed that there will be the main court between the four counties of Panyijiar, Leer, Koch, and Mayiendit established by the state governor,” he explained. “Three members to the court will be picked from each of the counties and they will operate from a location yet to be identified.”
“We started with community peace conferences between, Koch, Mayiendit, and Leer, and the three counties have come up with the decision to live together despite the problems that have happened in the last three months,” he added.
Commissioner Taker said they started the conferences in Mayiendit County and moved to Leer County last week and are planning to hold a similar conference in Koch County next Saturday before a final one which will be attended by the state leadership.
“After the two conferences, people are now moving freely between Mayiendit, Koch, and Leer counties Even the issue of cattle raiding has stopped and if it happens, the looted cows are returned to their rightful owners and the raider gets a fined and will be jailed for between 5 to 10 years,” he said. “There are a lot of resolutions from the Leer and Mayiendit conferences and we are going to compile them to function as a law in the three counties.”
According to Taker, a joint security unit of SPLA-IO and SSPDF will be the one to collect cattle meant for blood compensation from the four counties.
The conference, supported by UNMISS’ Civil Affairs Division, was attended by more than 80 participants.