CENTRAL EQUATORIA - A new United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) initiative, known as Citizens’ Talk, is bringing communities together to discuss shared challenges and explore solutions.
As the name suggests, these dialogue forums aim to empower people to play an active role in shaping their communities’ futures.
In Terekeka, where land disputes, competition over scarce resources and cattle raids have long fueled tensions, the forums offer a pathway towards peaceful coexistence.
“After all, dialogue is the best way to build trust, understanding and confidence amongst community members,” explained Christoper Muchiri, UNMISS Head of Field Office for Central and Eastern Equatoria states, during the latest forum.
The gathering brought together community representatives from across Terekeka County to share their concerns and identify practical, locally driven solutions.
Setting the tone for the discussions, Mr. Muchiri encouraged participants to seek amicable, community-based solutions rather than take the law into their own hands.
“This is your platform to collaborate. We encourage you to use it wisely and focus on reconciliation that will create resilience within your communities.”
And the participants did just that.
“Today, our people openly shared their problems, which allows us to now come together and actively work on solutions,” said Right Reverend Bishop Paul Modi of the Terekeka Diocese of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan.
He highlighted two pressing challenges: the lack of water points and poor road connectivity to parts of the county, which leave some communities isolated and unable to access essential resources.
These shortages can exacerbate tensions, pushing cattle keepers, including members of the Mundari community, to travel beyond their home areas to places such as Wonduruba, Lainya and parts of Yei River county in search of water and grazing land. Such movements can, in turn, trigger violent clashes between herders and farmers.
Yet participants were also candid about the limitations of dialogue if discussions fail to translate into tangible results.
Among them was Josephine Kakule, who stressed the need to turn words into action.
“I understand that dialogue is the best and only solution to resolve conflict but fail to understand why we still keep returning to war,” said the mother of three.
Echoing her concerns, women’s representative Sarah Tarazio called for practical measures, including better coordination and formal agreements between communities competing for resources, particularly farmers and cattle keepers.
“We urgently need these dialogues to negotiate and discuss how we can share the few resources available to us, but in the end, these spoken words will only bring peace if we hold each other accountable and translate them into concrete actions,” Tarazio concluded.
By Alahayi Nemaya
