The health department in the contested area of Abyei between Sudan and South Sudan started a workshop on tropical diseases yesterday, which is expected to conclude on 10 May.

Dr. Ayom Kurcheik, the medical director of Abyei hospital, told Radio Tamazuj yesterday that medical practitioners have participated in the workshop. He noted medical cadres who are working in the laboratories in particular will be trained on how to compile a medical report.

Elsewhere, in Maban County in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state a workshop on pastoralists’ rights was expected to start today in the area.

The workshop is organized by Faida and Kaido indigenous organizations as well as the group Democracy First in collaboration with the Maban County authorities.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, the programme director of the Faida organization Khalid Amar stated the workshop is likely to be attended by community leaders and representatives of Blue Nile refugees. He said the programme will discuss the rights of herders to graze cattle in the area.

The workshop also aims at coming up with a follow-up mechanism to implement the resolutions of the peace conference held between the refugees and the host community in Maban. 

Blue Nile refugees and Maban County natives recently held a reconciliation conference after tensions erupted into violence between the two communities.