A STEP TOGETHER IN YEI, SOUTH SUDAN: SHARED JOURNEYS OF LISTENING AND DIALOGUE
By Anne McMurrey
Link to web article here.
On 15 December 2013, clashes between the South Sudanese army took place in Juba. The clashes and attacks on civilians spread quickly, especially in Jonglei, Unity, and Upper Nile – states with abundant natural resources. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs claims that since December, approximately 1.3 million people have fled from their homes in South Sudan, with roughly 500,000 escaping to neighbouring countries. Thousands of South Sudanese women and men have been killed, and thousands more have sought shelter in United Nations Protection of Civilian areas.
As part of a grassroots groundswell for peace and reconciliation across the nation, the South Sudan Committee for National Healing, Peace, and Reconciliation is hosting an intensive four-week training, facilitated by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, in Yei, Central Equatoria, South Sudan. The training, entitled, ‘A Step Together: Shared Journeys of Listening and Dialogue’, brings together state chairpersons and representatives from all ten states of South Sudan and the Abyei Area from 1 to 28 October 2014.
The 76 ethnically diverse participants will share their personal stories and experiences, and be equipped with the skills to train a further 40–50 persons in their states, so that next year, approximately 550 grassroots ‘peace mobilisers’ will travel to payams (districts) across South Sudan to document reconciliation narratives and interrogate the needs of the communities to move forward in peace and unity. The varied voices will be collated and processed in order to develop an all-inclusive, people-driven National Reconciliation Agenda for South Sudan.
The CNHPR was formed in April 2013, and is chaired by South Sudan’s Anglican Archbishop, Daniel Deng Bul. Guided by core values of pluralism, inclusivity, peacemaking, social justice, forgiveness, healing and atonement, the CNHPR’s ultimate goal is an independent, inclusive, and home-grown platform and mechanism to create space for South Sudanese to collectively address the root causes of conflicts in South Sudan; build bridges across the political and social divides; heal and reconcile South Sudanese, particularly those with the most severe physical and psychological scars; resolve war-induced community conflicts; and document narratives of conflict and the respective healing and reconciliation journeys.
The CNHPR was formed in April 2013, and is chaired by South Sudan’s Anglican Archbishop, Daniel Deng Bul. Guided by core values of pluralism, inclusivity, peacemaking, social justice, forgiveness, healing and atonement, the CNHPR’s ultimate goal is an independent, inclusive, and home-grown platform and mechanism to create space for South Sudanese to collectively address the root causes of conflicts in South Sudan; build bridges across the political and social divides; heal and reconcile South Sudanese, particularly those with the most severe physical and psychological scars; resolve war-induced community conflicts; and document narratives of conflict and the respective healing and reconciliation journeys.
At the time of writing, nearly halfway through the process, diverse groups of participants have laughed, cried and danced together. They have reflected on identity, trauma, relationships, stereotypes (with sessions facilitated by content expert, IJR’s Webster Zambara), history and local peace processes to date. CNHPR member Presbyterian Moderator Peter Gai says, “This workshop is very unique and very powerful. To have all ten states and Abyei together - that is already true reconciliation!”