South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) said on Thursday it will set up a panel of national mediators to help resolve disputes among communities in the country.
Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director for CEPO told The Dawn that the reason for establishing the panel of mediators comes amid concern over the rampant communal violence in some parts of the country.
He said that the panel will comprise experienced mediation professionals and experts in negotiation and dialogue.
“It will be tasked to facilitate dialogue and mediation between disputing communities to reduce hostilities and foster locally led solutions to communal disputes,” said Yakani.
“The panel of national mediators will be a panel that is tasked to proactively mediate any violence among our communities and ensuring that the violence mediation is done sustainably,” he added.
Yakani said that the panel will be named by the end of January 2024, adding that they will recruit volunteers from the society who will be given training, mentorship and training in conflict resolution coaching.
“A panel of national mediators is a South Sudanese platform of individuals with experience and skill in conflict mediation, conflict prevention and using the methodology of mediation, negotiation and dialogue,” he said.
Yakani also noted that the panel will rely on an early warning conflict system to enable them to effectively respond to conflicts.
“This is to ensure that we respond proactively to the early warning of conflict coming out of our communities on potential occurrence of either deadly communal violence or violence that may contribute to violation of human rights,” he said.
