Joint Efforts of the Inter-Community Peace Committee Initiative in Juba
The prolonged conflict in South Sudan has kept many people in internally displaced people’s (IDP) camps, Protection of Civilian (POCs) sites, or in refugee camps outside South Sudan. The Juba IDP camp is surrounded by the communities of Yei-Road checkpoint, Merelotor, Nakitom, Lokwilili and Moryok. Since there has been almost no interaction between host communities and IDPs, mistrust has grown over the years and has not been addressed. Consequently, there was no relationship with the surrounding communities due to the mutual allegation of crimes and other incidents. In addition, trust between the police and the HC has been nonexistent and has lead to many cases of vigilante justice.
In order to build trust and strengthen the weak relationships between the host community, IDPs, and local authorities, NP facilitated one inter-communal dialogue in September 2020 with different relevant stake holders. As a result of the meeting, the participants decided to establish an Inter-Community Peace Initiative (ICPI) Committee comprised of 30 members: 5 members from each of the sub-communities of Yei-Road checkpoint.
In its first meeting, the IPCI committee signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to define relationships among the six communities and to outline their expected role when addressing protection concerns. According to the Committee, after the signing, the members were able to hold meetings with the communities about the peace agreement and spreading messages on peaceful coexistence in the 3 locations of check point, Moryok, and IDP 3. They are also planning to expand their work to other communities. The ICPI will continue to conduct dialogues between the six communities to bridge the gap between these communities and to build trustful relationships. Besides the relationship building between community members, the committee is also seeking to establish a better relationship between the local police and security coordinators in the camp by sharing information about camp-related issues as well as about the peace agreement. John, a member of the committee, has attributed the change in his perception to being a part of the committee.
“When this initiative was formed, I was not sure and not convinced that we will achieve anything from the MOU we signed because I was wondering how people from different communities can work together but after our first meeting with the community in Checkpoint [yei road checkpoint] I was surprised and happy at how people are willing to listen and do something for peace to come in this country.” - John, Inter community peace Initiative committee member, Juba IDP camp
Moreover, the committee agreed on sharing information about the work of other humanitarian agencies in the communities in order to improve the transparency and coordination among humanitarian partners as well as community members. Over time, the committee has received positive feedback from community members as they mentioned that they feel more comfortable to report cases of harassment and concerns to the community leaders and the local police station in the area than they did before. This has not only improved security but also improved interaction between the communities, the local authorities, and the local police.
“The real insecurity is when people look at each other as a security threat, people in this communities used to fear moving because of fear of being attacked by other members who are not from their community but now I see this fear is going away because people are getting to know each other ,all I can say is our security has greatly improved and I consider this as a work of the peace committee because they have made communities to understand that they are one people and not enemies, I thank NP for working closely with committee as well” - ICPI Security Adviser.
Since youth have been a constant concern within the communities, the peace committee focused and will continue to focus on bringing together the youths of the different communities, especially through sports. Agnes, Deputy chairperson of ICPI explained during a focus group discussion:
“We are planning to have a football peace tournament here; we have already cleared the field. We plan to have the youths from the different communities of Checkpoint Metolor, MoryokLokwili and Juba IDP to form a team to play against the South Sudan national football team. We will use this tournament as a platform to talk about the importance of diversity and peaceful co-existence for peace in South Sudan.”
The IPCI is planning to have more engagements with communities on the importance of dialogues to promote peaceful conflict resolution for a safe environment.
“We are planning to engage the communities in dialogue as the best means of resolving conflicts, peace is when violent is not an alternative for settling issues among ourselves.” - ICPI Security Adviser