To make peace, bring the fighters together
I’ve just returned from two weeks in South Sudan, spending time with representatives from warring tribal groups from some of the most violent parts of the country. I am inspired.
These representatives make up Peace Canal - an organisation that’s working to put an end to organised violence in Africa’s poorest nation.
We’ve recently been appointed to support Peace Canal with their strategic communications, so my last two weeks have been spent getting a thorough orientation from my new colleagues:
Unlike other NGOs that were dealing with secondary actors, Peace Canal was dealing with primary actors of conflict.
- Gordon Majuec Ayen, Area Coordinator for Greater Rumbek
Peace Canal works in a unique way with the communities by engaging those directly involved in conflict and in most cases it looks to be a risky venture that we take to look for those who are directly engaging with conflict.
- Christine Kide, Executive Director
Where much peacebuilding work is focussed on security at a national level (which is important), Peace Canal go directly to the communities, meet with armed leaders, seek to understand their needs and encourage them to meet with their opposition.
One approach to peace holds people back from each other, the other brings them back together.
One approach empowers government and security forces, the other empowers communities.
One approach comes with solutions, the other creates the space for solutions to emerge.
This upside-down way of doing things seems to be effective.
Since Peace Canal started working in areas of Jonglei and GPAA we have seen a systematic reduction in violence and communal attacks.
- Christine
One of Peace Canal’s superpowers is that they have skin in the game. All of our fieldworkers are recruited directly from the local communities in which they work.
Because I have that pain of being in war, and all that, then I feel if I can get that opportunity to join Peace Canal, I will also put my input to change my community from war to some other mutual understandings.
- Stephen Lomeling, Procurement Officer
Unity is another secret weapon - despite having to wrestle as a team with some very real tensions, they continue to choose to stand together in their differences for a greater good.
Every son and daughter of the conflicting communities were together, they were working together and approaching their community together… [The communities] were seeing their daughters and their sons coming to tell them, ‘Enough is enough, you need to talk and find a common ground.’
- Gordon
It’s members of their own families who have been abducted, killed or raped in the decades-long tit-for-tat raids between communities. In the last 3 months of 2023, 406 people were killed in violent attacks, 100 were abducted, 293 injured and 63 were victims of conflict related sexual violence. As we speak, one of the largest mobilisations we’ve seen in recent times is taking place in Jonglei state which is likely to devastate thousands more.
Our team are working every channel available to try to prevent a bloodbath, but grief and revenge has reached boiling point in recent months. There’s a swell of rage amongst these communities, reeling from a spate of recent cattle raids, drowning out the voices of reason.
But over the last four years, the team has built trusted relationships with many of the key players on each side of the conflict and have the ear of the ‘spiritual’ leaders and chiefs, currently leading the charge.
There was a gloomy atmosphere in the glossy, air conditioned conference hall as we discussed the mobilisation. But these guys are dedicated…
Deputy Area Coordinator of Greater Pibor, Lilimoy, shared with me about how he’d recently walked with one of the armed youth leaders in the bush for 2 days straight to build a personal connection with him. Imagine a foreign aid worker doing that… (risk assessment says ‘no’).
…and they’re courageous.
In 2020, one of the organisation’s first acts was to gather the armed leaders from three warring communities to meet in Rumbek - 30 odd tribal militia leaders on charter planes, coming face to face with their sworn enemies. This was something that had never even been considered before, for the risk management headache alone.
The group came out with a peace agreement, and a ‘traditional walking over the white bull’ ceremony sealed the deal. Afterwards, a report stated that ‘conditions are now strengthening for flood affected communities to move to higher ground in previously insecure areas [and] for humanitarian [aid to reach] communities in famine…’
When peace returns to communities, new possibilities emerge.
Who knows what will happen with this current mobilisation - or South Sudan’s first general election, due to take place at the end of the year. But, I sense a good thing emerging with these guys around and their upside-down way of doing peace building. I just hope that we can get the message to spread…