CEWERU News

Members of the reconstituted Kajo-Keji CPRM I Photo by Duku David

South Sudan Peace and Reconciliation Commission (SSPRC) with support from UNDP held a 4-day training and revitalization for the reconstituted County Peace Response Mechanism (CPRM) and training on the use of Mobile Application (Alert me) for conflict early warning and response.

The training was conducted from 22^nd to 25^th of August in Mere Boma of Lire payam in Kajo-keji County. The training was attended by 20 participants that includes local authorities, members from Kajo-Keji peace committee, youth, women, church representatives and radio reporters.

The participants gained skills on how to use the Mobile Application to report conflict alerts from their different areas for early response by the local authorities. Participant’s understanding of conflict early warning, data collection analysis and reporting was also enhanced.

“What we have so far learnt from this training is really going to help the people of Kajo Keji. With this training and the Mobile Application, we’re going to reach places where we never reached before. This will simplify my work and I am certain that Kajo Keji will be peaceful again.” Evans Pere Amos, Director of Peace Commission Kajo Keji County.

Group photo of the participants after the training- Photo Credit (Wani Godfrey)

South Sudan Peace and Reconciliation Commission (SSPRC) conducted a 4-day training on the use of Mobile Application (Alert Me) to 20 County Peace Response Mechanism (CPRM) of Boma County in Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA).

Alert Me is a mobile application developed to bridge gaps in reporting and communication that hindered timely submission of conflict early warning alerts.

“This initiative that you people came with is a very important one for the development of this Country. This shows that you’re not only thinking of peace in your own places but also for us here in the Boma.” Says Korok Rachuai, The Head of Chiefs in Boma, GPAA.

Photo credit Cewarn

CEWARN concluded a meeting of its technical committee on early warning that brought together heads of national Conflict Early Warning and Response units (CEWERUs) and civil society organizations from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Uganda. The meeting was held on 29 – 31 May in Mombasa, Kenya.

The meeting’s main aim was to prepare for the annual convening of the CEWARN’s senior Policy organ meeting, also referred to as the Committee of Permanent Secretaries (CPS) which comprises deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs of IGAD Member States that regularly appraise the mechanism’s operations.

The technical committee received reports on ongoing conflict prevention activities of the national conflict early warning and response Units. One of the key items on the committee’s agenda was exploring ways of sustaining the mechanisms of civil society-based data collection networks as well as mechanisms to ensure data quality that informs early warning analysis.

The meeting also reviewed CEWARN’s analytic products including the 2023 conflict profiling & amp; scenario-building report that reflects emerging peace and security challenges in the region as well as a Conflict Atlas that presents geographic analysis of violent incidents.

Other deliberations included the progress of work in the implementation of the projects supported by the CEWARN Rapid Response Fund (RRF) as well as initiatives related to research, outreach, and communications initiatives.

The Committee of permanent secretaries is scheduled to convene in July 2023.

INTERCEDE on 17^th  - 19^th April 2023, organized a Community Peace and Reconciliation Dialogues between the Cie-Bool and Cie-Biliew sections of  Akobo County. The conflicting communities have been engaged in prolonged revenge conflict, viciously recycling and protracting for over 10 years. The cie-Biliew section has been blocked from accessing services from Akobo Town for about 8 years by Cie-Bool. The 3days peace dialogue brought 68  prominent community elders, paramount chiefs, chiefs, youth leaders, and women leaders. And the local authority. The dialogue was termed a glorious call from God, for these communities to reconcile, heal and forgive each other.  The conflicting communities appealed to the donor funding this peace initiative and INTERCEDE to facilitate conflicting Youth Interaction Space (YIS). The communities also committed to organizing Peace Ceremony Day which other communities’ chiefs, elders, and local authorities will witness.

 A facilitator from the Community Aid for Relief and Development (CARD) organization taking participants through a session on conflict sensitivity in Tambura County of Western Equatoria State. Photo Credit: CARD

Western Equatoria State is recovering from a deadly wave of inter-communal violence that broke out early last year between the predominant Zande Ethnic group and the Balanda from which the current state governor hails. What started as a political disagreement between individual politicians from the state soon turned into an inter-ethnic conflict between the Zande and Balanda in Tambura County of WES. There were early warning signs before the conflict started but this escaped the attention of authorities due to the lack of conflict sensitivity amongst the state leadership and response institutions such as the police, local chiefs, and faith-based leader, making the conflict inevitable in the end. As a result of this challenge, South Sudan CEWERU through its early warning system with support from the Rapid Response Fund of IGAD’s Conflict Early Warning and Early Response Mechanism (CEWARN) is putting in place mechanisms to sensitize community leaders in WES to avoid a repeat of the 2021 violence.

From Left to right seated: Irene Limo UNDP Peacebuilding analyst, Hon. Jamal Kakaya chair of South Sudan legislative assembly peacebuilding, Hon. Chuol Rambang chair of South Sudan CEWERU, Brigadier Joyce Sitienei Head of the International Peace Support Training Center, Stella Konga South Sudan CEWERU, Joseph Kido the director of peacebuilding at the South Sudan Ministry of Peacebuilding. Photo Credit: IPSTC Kenya.

Conflict is still rampant across South Sudan despite gains made from the signing of the Revitalized Agreement on Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCISS) in 2018. Conflicts at the subnational level have particularly impacted national stability and communities’ abilities to return to normal. Ethnic violence and gender-based violence are some of the major drivers of conflicts at the sub-national level.

South Sudan’s conflict at the sub-national levels is driven by large-scale communal wars over cattle, land, and child abduction. Patriarchal practices remain deeply embedded in communities and as a result, about 65 percent of women experience some form of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) such as child marriage and rape in their lifetime. Conflict continues to ravage parts of the country, and this is made worse by the floods and the Covid-19 pandemic that have compounded the challenges of returning to stability.