12 February 2015 - The people of Kajo-Keji County are exploring ways of peacefully settling a border conflict with neighboring people in the Moyo district of northern Uganda.

The effort follows clashes between the Ma’di of Moyo and the Kuku of Kajo-Keji between 15 and 19 September 2014 that left scores of people dead on both sides of the border.

David Asiimwe, UNMISS Civil Affairs Division (CAD) Officer, said the people of Kajo-Keji should embrace forgiveness and begin a reconciliation process to forge unity with their neighbours, so that the county could attain sustainable peace to boost development.

The call came in a two-day peace forum, which took place at Wudu town in Kajo-Keji on 3 and 4 February, organized and funded by CAD for 54 community leaders, with support from Save Hope and South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC).

Save Hope and SSCC are now preparing a report of the forum’s recommendations for national and state leaders to spark a prompt course of action, according to Dabe Francis Murye, project director of Save Hope Organization.

He said participants drew up nine realistic resolutions, including speedily demarcating the Uganda-South Sudan border, protecting Ma’di in Kajo-Keji as well as Kuku in Moyo and forming peace committee from both sides to spearhead reconciliation.

Julius Lotet , a representative of SSCC, said the conflict had taken a huge toll on the two neighbouring tribes. “These people … have children on either side of the border, meaning that every community is affected, as both feel so attached to each other that they became almost inseparable.”

Mr. Murye noted that both tribes had clans which traced their origins to either side of the border. “This tells us that our cultures – the way we dance, the way we do certain things - are similar to those of the people of Moyo, meaning that we are one people by history.”

Pastor Edward Dima of the First Baptist Church in Kajo-Keji, who doubles as chairman of Interfaith Churches, said churches in Kajo-Keji were already working together with those in Moyo to bring the two communities to a meaningful dialogue.

“From our thoughts and talks, we have reached a common understanding that we have to forgive … our brethren from Moyo,” Mr. Dima said.

“We are trying to explore channels on how we could bring the communities in Moyo to a roundtable with the people of Kajo-Keji,” Mr. Lotet said, “so that their views are also found in an attempt to elicit remedies and restore the lost spirit of co-existence.”

Although the conflict was triggered by the delay in border demarcation, the impact had gone far beyond it, he said.

David Asiim urged people of Kajo-Keji County to embrace peaceful ways of resolving conflicts to promote neighbourliness.

“Conflicts are part and parcel of society,” he said. “And what makes a difference is how we handle them when they appear.”

Participants comprised local chiefs, youth, women, businessmen, religious and traditional leaders, elders, councilors and representatives of returnees.