Women Protection Teams Lead Reconciliation Through Dialogue in Walgak
Walgak has long been a center of conflict and has been plagued by revenge attacks, cattle raiding, and intercommunal violence. With the support of NP, Women Protection Teams (WPTs) have been established and are actively playing a role in the de-escalation of conflict through dialogue and mediation.
Mistaken Identity, Purposeful Revenge
Recent tensions between the Chiedak Ruot clan of Walgak and Chieyakuah clan of Akobo West nearly triggered interclan attacks after a man from the Chieyakuach clan married a woman from the Chiedak Ruot clan. During an unfortunate incident of mistaken identity, the man who was living in Walgak with his wife, was killed by members of his wife’s clan, prompting family members from the Chieyakuach clan to seek revenge.
With the threat of a revenge-attack becoming more imminent as evidenced by the continued and intensified fighting between family members in public places on multiple occasions, WPT members observed the need for an intervention. Thus far, community leaders had not yet intervened and the WPT members asked the women in the families to participate in mediation.
One of the WPT members noted that the fighting between these women was not only disruptive to community activities and peace, but was also a breeding ground for more violence:
“You know here people are always angry, someone is waiting for who will start the fight so that they can jump and finish their anger but if we asked these women you will realize this is not what they want to do either, but they are the people behind this.”
Women Intervene: Dialogue Instead of Death
The women involved both agreed to participate in a dialogue led by the WPT members. WPT members planning for the session then decided to include two more women leaders, one from each clan, to support the session and the implementation of whatever the dialogue would bring. The WPTs discussed the nonviolent options for conflict resolution and discussed the impact of the continued conflict between them. One of the members of the WPT noted that it was important they talked about the stages of conflict, because most of the time in their communities, women and youth have been used to fuel conflicts instead of solving them amicably even though conflicts have a great impact on women and youth.
The WPT member narrated: “We wanted to make sure these women know what the fighting can lead to, it can lead to a bigger problem where you may even lose more of your family members and we talked about this. After they understood that revenge creates more problems.”
After the dialogue, the women agreed to forgive each other, reconcile their differences, and not get involved in any more fighting. There have been no reports of fighting among the two after the dialogue. Instead, community members have asked WPT members how these women were able to become friends as they are now eating, walking, and even working together.
Nonviolent Peaceforce will continue to support WPTs through trainings to enhance their capacities in building peace and enhancing safety among the communities using nonviolent means.
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Supported by the Reconciliation Stabilization and Resilience Trust Fund (RSRTF) and consortium partners