By Louis Loku
A two-day peace conference held in Thony Community has concluded with participants agreeing to a ceasefire and renewed commitment to reconciliation following recent communal conflicts in Tonj South County.
The conference was organised as part of ongoing peace efforts by the Local Community Chiefs Committee on Peace and brought together a large number of community members from the Thony, Apuk-Juwiir, Yar, Muok, and Bongo communities.
Organisers described the gathering as the largest peace conference so far held in Akon-cok, Boma, with representatives from participating communities using the occasion to promote forgiveness, healing, and peaceful coexistence.
The representatives from the Apuk-Juwiir, Muok, and Yar communities called on the Thony community to forgive and embrace reconciliation despite the destruction and loss of lives resulting from recent communal violence.
They emphasised the need for communities to move beyond past grievances and work together to prevent further conflict and restore peaceful relations among neighbouring communities.
Tonj South County Commissioner Gordon Makuer Tiau, together with other delegates, commended the Thony community for its hospitality and for ensuring the conference concluded peacefully without any reported negative incidents.
Commissioner Makuer also directed Thony community chiefs and Mijook-wuot to extend the peace messages to cattle camps and engage armed civilians at the grassroots level.
He said peace efforts must reach communities and cattle camps directly to ensure local populations understand and support the commitments reached during the conference.
As part of the peace initiative, Thony Community also presented 116 different attires and bedsheets to participants from the four visiting communities as a gesture of peace, unity, and reconciliation.
The gesture was welcomed as a symbolic expression of goodwill and a commitment to strengthening relations among the communities.
The Local Community Chiefs Peace Committee is expected to continue its peace tour, with another major conference scheduled to take place in Malual-Muok within the next three days.
The upcoming conference follows successful gatherings in Apuk-Juwiir and Thony, as local leaders continue efforts to consolidate the ceasefire and address communal tensions across Tonj South County.