30 June 2015 - UNMISS today concluded a training workshop on conflict prevention and peacebuilding for women leaders in Rumbek town, Lakes State.

“The objective of the two-day workshop was to strengthen the capacity of local community women leaders in conflict prevention and peacebuilding,” said UNMISS Gender Officer Sheriff Abdulai.

Some 33 participants drawn from Rumbek East, Rumbek North and Rumbek Centre counties learnt how to identify triggers and causes of conflict, and the role they can play in peace building.

“Even though these communities are in conflict with each other, they work together in organizations such as the Lakes State Women Association,” said Mr. Abdulai.

According to Mary Achol, chairlady of the Widows’ Association, one of highlights of the training was watching a documentary, “Pray the devil back to hell”.

The film tells the story of courageous Liberian women who came together in the midst of a bloody civil war, took on the violent warlords and corrupt Charles Taylor regime, and won a long-awaited peace for their shattered country in 2003.

An online summary explains that as the rebel noose tightened upon Monrovia and peace talks faced collapse, Christian and Muslim Liberian women united and “formed a thin but unshakable white line between the opposing forces, and successfully demanded an end to the fighting, armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions”.

“In one remarkable scene, the women barricaded the site of stalled peace talks in Ghana, and announced they would not move until a deal was done,” says the summary. “Faced with eviction, they invoked the most powerful weapon in their arsenal – threatening to remove their clothes. It worked.”

The synopsis concludes that the women of Liberia are living proof that moral courage and non-violent resistance can succeed, even where the best efforts of traditional diplomacy have failed.”

“We can also do like (they did) and contribute to peace here in the state,” said Ms. Achol, after watching the film in Rumbek.

Many women commended the mission for organizing the workshop, but stressed that men should receive similar training.

“(Men) are the ones who fight,” said Yar Matur, Deputy Chairlady of the Lakes State Women Association during a group dialogue. “We ask you to also train them on peaceful means to resolve conflicts.”