Leaders and professionals from the Gok community in Lakes State on Wednesday held a brainstorming session on the best possible ways to deal with a recurring conflict among communities in Cueibet County.
Participants told Good News Radio that the meeting was prompted by recent fighting among some Cueibet communities that left an unconfirmed number of people dead and scores of others injured.State MP Biapiath Majuec Rielpiou representing one of the constituencies from Cueibet County said youth and intellectuals from the Gok community should not be blamed for the conflict.
He noted that the Wednesday meeting was just the beginning of a peace and reconciliation process to be extended to the 12 sections in Cueibet.
MP Jook Ayoom Majok said the Rumbek session was a follow-up to a similar meeting held in Juba when violence broke out in Cueibet.
He pointed out that the initiative’s objective was to promote unity and harmony among communities in Cueibet County.
Mr Ayoom said the authorities are engaging with the two sections of the Gok community that were involved in the recent fighting before reaching out to other sections in the County.
The Chairperson of the Cueibet Peace and Reconciliation initiative, Amuon Awantok, stated that professionals have the duty to ensure that members of their respective communities embrace peaceful means of resolving disputes.
He said it was shameful for professionals to sit and watch as people continue to kill each other.
Dr. Awantok underlined that educated men and women from the Gok community should be committed to ensuring that there is peace and tranquillity in the county.
He added that the next move is to reach out to communities in the neighbouring Rumbek North and Rumbek Centre counties.
The situation in Cueibet County has been tense for the past few weeks but calm has returned to the area after a successful intervention by the Government of Lakes State.