By Hou Akot Hou
Dinka Malual of South Sudan urged Rezigat pastoralists from Sudan to respect the peace accord they signed and avoid driving their cattle early to their area.
The Dinka Malual peace committee that inked the deal with the Rezigat pastoralist community’s representative in Darfur met Wednesday, November 8, 2023, at Gok-Machar in Aweil North County, Northern Bahr El Ghazal State.
As the Rezigat needed to drive their cattle to South Sudan, the community of Aweil North County objected to their request to come into Aweil with their cattle.
The Aweil North County community, however, urged their Sudanese neighbors to wait until the produce is harvested on the farms before they can drive their cows for pasture.
The secretary general of the Dinka Malual peace committee, Mr. Majok Deng Akuacdit, revealed that they converged at Gok-Machar town to discuss ways forward to streamline the strategies of how they (alien pastoralists) could come back to graze their cattle on the land.
“We have converged today and started deliberating on how best the pastoralists could come and stay in peace in the course of grazing their cattle. But we push the time to February since some farmers still have their produce on the farm now,” he said.
Majok stated that the two communities have long-term agreements that they want to maintain, adding that the Arab nomads have to adhere to these agreements if they want their cows to survive in the name of grazing, as they severely face a lack of pastures and water in their original places.
For his part, the representative of the Rezigat pastoralists, Abadallah Sadiik, said that they are cognizant of the timeframe, as it usually begins in January.
“We know that the time is usually at the beginning of the dry season. But now that there is war in Sudan, they are under pressure, and their cattle are languishing. As a matter of fact, they would have no option but to wait till the time comes,” he stated.
Saadik said they would go back to their people to assure them about the preconditions given, such as not to temper with the farmers ‘crops as they may destroy the farm produce.
The Dinka Malual community has signed peace agreements with the Misseriay and Rezigat Arab nomads, but residents have criticized the agreements due to reported clashes.
The recurring killings had resulted in blood compensation that people regarded as a venture for elites on both sides.