The Vice President for Service Cluster Hussein Abdelbagi Akol and Northern Bahr el Ghazal state governor Tong Akeen Tong have called on Greater Tonj communities of Warrap state to adhere to recommendations of a recently concluded peace conference there.
On Monday, authorities in Tonj Town convened a five-day peace conference aimed at finding amicable solutions to the persistent insecurity and inter-communal conflicts in the area.
The conference that bought together over 1,000 delegates sought to identify possible elements for building peace, trust, and restoring confidence among communities.
The delegates included Tonj members from the diaspora, political leaders from both national and state government, youth, women, and spiritual leaders among others.
Among the resolutions included an immediate deployment of armed forces in areas bordering Western Bahr el Ghazal, Unity, and Lakes state.
The conference also recommended the collection of light small arms from the hands of the civil population.
Other issues included the establishment of a judicial system to resolve land disputes aggravated by the absence of clear boundaries.
Cattle-raiding, inter-communal and revenge-related violence were also addressed in the 5-day conference.
Addressing the participants, Hussein Abdelbagi asked the communities there to respect the recommendations as the only doctrine to everlasting peace in their areas.
“The paper you have signed to today, any chief who sign and later defend his criminal tomorrow, this is the person we will begin with as government,” Abdelbagi warned.
He called on the chiefs and communities there to hand over any criminal suspected of committing crimes to the authorities.
Abdelbagi also urged parliamentarians from Greater Tonj, both national and state legislatures to go down to their constituencies and disseminate the agreed resolutions of the conference.
“We will draft a budget to facilitate the MPs from village to village and everywhere such that our people understand the content,” he said.
Meanwhile, Northern Bahr el Ghazal state governor Tong Akeen Tong called on the chiefs to be at the forefront of implementing the principles of the agreement.
“You chiefs, if you have all united and agreed on one thing, please don’t reverse the agreement, if you have united with your governor Aleu Ayieny, I hope the governor will manage everything,” said Tong. “We the governors of Bahr el Ghazal states, Aleu, Ring Tueny, and I Tong Akeen, have agreed that if there is any place having a problem, we will tackle it.”
Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Warrap, Unity, and Lakes states have been experiencing waves of communal violence, mainly fueled by revenge attacks, cattle raiding, and banditry as youth in the three states continue to possess firearms.