![Participants at peace conference in Yirol. [Phot by Sudans Post]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IMG_20240904_123350_796.jpg?resize=1024%2C438&ssl=1)
The dialogue was organized by the Ministry of Peacebuilding in collaboration with PAX, a Dutch peacebuilding organization, and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
Seventy participants, including state ministers, members of parliament, county commissioners, chiefs, women leaders, and cattle keepers, attended the event.
The dialogue, themed “Living in Peace with Neighbors,” is sponsored by PAX’s Protection of Civilians (POC) program in South Sudan and UNMISS’s Civil Affairs Division (CAD) for Lakes and Unity states.
During the opening ceremony, Minister of Local Government Chol Kuotwel Manhom urged both states to unite in fighting criminals who disrupt the peace in their communities.
“Whatever is agreed upon during this three-day dialogue, the governments of Lakes and Unity states are ready to implement to end conflicts,” he said.
Nyanhok Malou Marial, Minister of Peacebuilding in Lakes State, thanked the partners for making the dialogue possible.
“As the people of South Sudan, the only way we can unite is through peace. Let peace begin at home and extend to all of us,” she said. Marial emphasized that cattle raiding, revenge killings, and theft only bring destruction, while peace can help resolve grievances through amicable justice.
Yirol East County Commissioner Manyang Luk appealed to the conflicting communities to agree on blood compensation, stating,
“There is no nation where people kill one another without blood compensation,” he said.
He called on communities to return raided cattle to their rightful owners, stressing that this would help reduce cattle-related violence.
Majok Bol, Commissioner of Panyijar County, expressed gratitude to both Lakes and Unity states for initiating the dialogue, which provided a platform for communities to discuss critical issues affecting them.
