CENTRAL EQUATORIA - "We are all one people, and we want to live in peace with each other. It doesn’t have to be like this." 

Joseph Moore, leader of a youth group in Tindilo, Terekeka County, is referring to families being torn apart by fighting between neighbouring communities of farmers and cattle herders. 

In the counties of Juba and Terekeka, scarce grazing land and water resources is the most common cause of these disputes, with cows destroying crops and their owners thus bothering agriculturalists to the point where violence and revenge attacks ensue and create a vicious cycle. 

“It is sad, because the two groups actually depend on each other, and they know that. Herders buy our crops, and we get meat and milk from them,” Mr. Moore says.

But when representatives from the two feuding groups get together in Kuda to discuss how to peaceful and more productive relations, many of them seems to have forgotten their mutual need for this age-old symbiosis.

Initially, there is anger, mutual accusations and, among some, a lack of hope when it comes to restoring harmony and common ground. 

“Putting thorns around your gardens will only make the herders take them down and let their cows eat and ruin the crops," said women’s representative Grace Kani Timothy, a farmer from Dolo. 

Peter Maker, a young cattle owner in Tali, makes it clear that frustrations are rife in both camps. 

“When someone steals your animals, you have no future for yourself or your children. There are no other jobs and no schools.” 

Elder attendees, like Joseph Wani from Rokon, sound pessimistic about existing conflicts being resolved. 

“When I was much younger, chiefs would get together to find solutions to any problem that arose and then their respective communities would do as they were told. These days, people don’t listen to their chiefs,” he said, sighing heavily.

Eventually, after lots of venting, the community leaders and others participating in the forum, organized by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), the Whitaker Peace Initiative and local civil society organizations, do, however begin to hear each other out. 

And through dialogue, some agreements were reached: petitioning for one or more courts dedicated to ruling on cattle-related disputes, the construction of more water points and the setting aside of land for grazing purposes. 

“We will continue to support initiatives aiming to bring peace, and we will monitor how the implementation of your agreed on resolutions proceeds,” said Victor Fasama, a Civil Affairs Officer serving with the peacekeeping mission.