Tensions between Warrap pastoralists and farmers in Wau County in South Sudan’s Western Bahr al Ghazal state have been addressed during a joint meeting recently, Wau County Commissioner Elia Kamilo Dimo said.

Dimo told Radio Tamazuj today that they had a joint three-day meeting with the Warrap authorities at Wau Grand Hotel where reported insecurity caused by the pastoralists was discussed.

Previously a meeting of Warrap and Western Bahr el Ghazal officials at Buseri town resolved to set up two committees for monitoring and peaceful resolution.

Kamilo further said the two governors of Warrap and Western Bahr el Ghazal also formed a high monitoring committee.

The meeting took place after a committee headed by the Warrap State Advisor on Peace and Reconciliation arrived in Wau two weeks ago, according to the county official, saying the committee comprised of Warrap county commissioners.

“After the meeting, we went as a joint team for a field visit to where the problems occurred between pastoralists and farmers in Wau County. So we visited Baggari, Buseri, and Basalia areas,” he said.

The official said they addressed the pastoralists and farmers who are living in those areas. “We told them that we are one people and one government, so there should be peaceful coexistence among us. The farmers shouldn’t take the law into their hand, and the pastoralists also shouldn’t cause problems to farmers,” he said.

Kamilo added that Wau farmers who are adjacent to Tonj North were concerned at mounting tensions with the cattle keepers. “The Tonj North Commissioner was also present during our field visit to those areas,” he said.

Elia disclosed that the joint committee will pay a similar visit to Jur River area by Saturday.  

The previous peace meeting between the two states failed when local chiefs from Wau rejected a seasonal migration of herders into their areas in January, according Dimo. “The pastoralists insisted that they prefer January, while the chiefs said, no, we harvest some of our crops in January, that’s why that meeting failed.”

Kamilo, who previously served as state Minister of Youths and Sports pointed out that the proliferation of arms in the hands of herders who cross from neighboring Warrap state was addressed and it was agreed during the meeting to ban the weapons.

He indicated that some farmers and pastoralists who had been causing insecurity have been arrested recently and that they were taken to court.

“Even the man who killed one person in Jur River County three weeks ago, he has been arrested by the local authorities in Tonj North, and he is now in the Wau Prison,” he explained.