USAID/OTI Sudan Hot Topics
April 2003
Conflict Mitigation in Western Equatoria
Relations between the internally displaced Bor Dinka cattle herders and the host Maridi community have never been easy since the Bor Dinka were displaced in 1994 from Bor and began occupying farm lands in the host Maridi community in southern Sudan. The Bor Dinka are pastoralists and the Maridi are agriculturalists. The fundamental conflict is due to insufficient resources – primarily land and water – to provide for both the pastoralists and the agriculturalists particularly when rule of law in the region is weak. In addition, the conflict has been exacerbated by the proliferation of small firearms and the presence of illegal armed groups in the region. In the past few weeks, the conflict has flared up again between the Bor Dinka and Maridi communities.
Pact/OTI responded to the breakdown in basic rule of law by dispatching a five-person technical team comprised of senior members from both the Maridi and Bor-Dinka communities. The multi-ethnic team helped mitigate the conflict between the two groups and ease some of the basic tensions by addressing the root-causes of the conflict and by opening the dialogue between the communities. The multi-ethnic technical team will continue the peace dialogue in May, addressing the issues of returning the cattle owners to the original Bor community (through the technical team). The technical team will also engage with the local judiciary to support a mobile court to work on priority cases, and work with the community to better integrate other Bor-Dinka IDPs who do not intend on returning to the original Bor community and who do not necessarily own cattle.
December 2002
All-Nuba Conference
OTI provided a $102,000 grant to the British NGO Christian Aid to help sponsor the All-Nuba Conference. From December 2 to 5, 2002, some 380 representatives from a broad spectrum of Nuban civil and political society gathered in Kauda, Sudan. Participants came from across Sudan with nearly 40 percent coming from areas under the control of the Government of Sudan. Others traveled from Europe and North America to attend and a number of international facilitators, journalists, and observers, including representatives from the Norwegian Foreign Affairs Department, the Carter Center, and the Joint Military Commission, were present.
 | | Participants at the All-Nuba conference. |
The Conference illustrated the importance of enabling a wide cross section of Nuba civil society to come together to openly discuss the critical issues confronting the region. Key outcomes of the conference included:
- Dissolution of all four Nuba political parties and formation of one new "United Sudan National Party" (USNP), under the Presidency of Bishop Phillip Abbas and the vice-presidencies;
- Unequivocal commitment of the SPLM/A leadership to the centrality of the Nuba Mountains Region in all on-going peace negotiations;
- Endorsement of the IGAD process as the means to negotiate a just and secure peace for the Regions of Nuba Mountains, Southern Blue Nile and Abyei, but only as part of a comprehensive settlement for the whole of Sudan;
- Clear mandate given by the Conference to the SPLM/A to negotiate on behalf of the Nuba people in the IGAD peace process, and for the new USNP to play an active role in all such negotiations;
- Strong commitment of all participants to an on-going process of unification among the Nuba people aimed at further developing both their shared vision of a just future and their capability of achieving it.
Additional resolutions were generated that sought to articulate the essential conditions of a just and secure peace settlement for the Nuba people and the guiding principles for the future of a united Nuban society. The conference further contributed momentum for people-led political processes as a means of promoting peaceful, democratic change.
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