By James Innocent
Over one hundred (100) participants joined a three-day dialogue on peaceful coexistence between farmers and cattle herders within Yei River County of Central Equatoria state on Tuesday morning.
The dialogue has been facilitated by Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative and Fin Church Aid (FCA).
Yei, known for its agricultural potential, has been facing numerous challenges from cattle herders.
Yatta Ambrose, the coordinator for Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, applauds the farmers and the cattle herders for attending the dialogue, so that they can ultimately come up with a permanent solution to end conflict in the community.
“Our main aim for this dialogue is to create peaceful coexistence among farmers and cattle herders, as Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative,” he adds.
The Commissioner of Yei River County, Emmanuel Taban Seme, appreciates both farmers and cattle herders for coming together to dialogue, which will foster peaceful coexistence among the citizens of Yei.
Emmanuel further emphasizes the need for all people to embrace agriculture as the backbone, so that they can fight against hunger.
Slash Moses, the Project Manager for Fin Church Aid (FCA) supporting Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, including Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO).
“This dialogue is very important. That’s why we came as consortium partners to organize the three-day dialogue on peaceful coexistence between cattle herders and farmers. There is a lot of misunderstanding among themselves, and in due course, they will be able to come up with a tangible resolution to end conflicts,” he mentioned.
Slash, in his concluding remarks, calls on all participants to implement the resolutions from this dialogue.
He states that they will be making follow-ups on the program, because often people who receive such training do not implement it.
The Peace Director of Yei River County, Toronto Santo, welcomes the dialogue for permanent peace to prevail in all the payams across the county.
The dialogue is about peaceful coexistence among the farmers and the cattle herders because they are all one body.
In Yei, traditional authorities have issued an order for tying down stray animals, but some people are not following the orders.
Whenever a farmer finds an animal destroying his crops, there is always tension between the farmers and the cattle herders.
IOM official James Walla calls on the farmers and the cattle herders not to underrate each other when it comes to peaceful dialogue, because food and meat are all consumable things that should not be a source of conflict.
Michael Machar, the Director for Civil-Military Relations in Yei, advises cattle herders to tie down their goats and cattle to minimize conflict in the community.
He adds, “It’s not right for people to let their animals destroy people’s crops, causing farmers to suffer from hunger. While animal keepers sell their animals for meat, they don’t give a little to the farmers whose crops were eaten,” he added.
Meanwhile, Yeka Joel, one of the participants, urges all participants to come up with rules and regulations so that everyone abides by them to avoid causing conflict and disorder in the community.