By Yiep Joseph<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A high-level meeting of Ateker Cluster leaders from South Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda has resolved a concurrent regional disarmament program for bordering communities.<\/strong><\/p>\n The talks that kicked off on the 30th of October and ended on the 31st in Moroto, Uganda, brought representatives from South Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda alongside border communities to get a remedy to the border conflict.<\/p>\n The Ateker border communities comprised Kenya\u2019s Turkana, Uganda\u2019s Karamojong, and South Sudan\u2019s Toposa and Didinga, who are constantly reported in conflicts as a result of cattle rustling and land disputes, among others.<\/p>\n The high-level officials from the three countries resolved a concurrent regional disarmament program among the nine other concrete resolutions.<\/p>\n According to the communiqu\u00e9 obtained by this outlet, Ateker border communities inked a joint report resolving to foster peaceful co-existence, deepen cultural linkages, and amicably address community-based issues.<\/p>\n \u201cCalls upon the government of the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of South Sudan, and the Republic of Uganda to establish a simultaneous regional disarmament program in the Trijunction area of the Ateker Community to address security challenges posed by the possession of illegal firearms, which have exacerbated conflicts and undermined peace efforts,\u201d the communique partly read.<\/p>\n The leaders agreed to support governments\u2019 efforts to mobilize the community to participate in the concurrent disarmament process after the leaders noted that the illegal firearms within their community contribute greatly to the insecurity in the border areas.<\/p>\n \u201cRecognize that the illegal firearms within the Ateker Community generally contribute to the insecurity in the border areas, and therefore Ateker leaders agreed to support the government’s efforts and mobilize the community to participate in the concurrent disarmament,\u201d the statement partly read.<\/p>\n Among other resolutions included the need to provide necessary resources to expedite the delimitation, demarcation, and reaffirmation of their boundaries by the governments of the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of South Sudan, and the Republic of Uganda, as demanded by the Ateker leaders.<\/p>\n Further called on the EAC to engage IGAD to establish a collaborative mechanism to include other communities around the Trijunction of Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia borders in the peace initiative.<\/p>\n The leaders further urged the governments of Kenya and Uganda to prioritize the signing of a resource-sharing agreement to ensure equitable access and usage of shared resources, benefiting border communities.<\/p>\n In addition, they urged their governments to prioritize the construction of roads, markets, abattoirs, and other essential infrastructure.<\/p>\n Among those who participated and signed the document were Dr. Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, Uganda\u2019s 1st Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of East African Community Affairs; Kenya\u2019s Cabinet Secretary for East African Community, Arid and Semi-Arid Areas (ASALs) and Regional Development, Hon. Beatrice Moe Askul; the Governor of South Sudan\u2019s Eastern Equatoria State, H.E. Louis Lobong.<\/p>\n In 2023, hundreds of Kapoeta East County residents peacefully demonstrated after Kenya deployed soldiers on South Sudan territory, claiming that the border between the two countries is in the Nakodok area of Kapoeta East County.<\/p>\n This came after the authorities in Kapoeta East County of South Sudan\u2019s Eastern Equatoria State reported clashes at the border that left about 13 people dead while some border posts were closed.<\/p>\n Also, this year, several disputes were registered between communities from South Sudan and Uganda at border points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Yiep Joseph A high-level meeting of Ateker Cluster leaders from South Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda has resolved a concurrent regional disarmament program for bordering communities. The talks that kicked off on the 30th of October and ended on the 31st in Moroto, Uganda, brought representatives from South Sudan,[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":30344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79,129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news","category-regional"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Leaders-of-the-Ateker-border-communities-sign-the-resolutions-in-Moroto-Uganda.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30343"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30388,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30343\/revisions\/30388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}