Twic East community pushed to relocate to highland areas due to floods

Members Twic East community on Saturday agreed to relocate eastwards to high land due to persistent flooding.
Members of Twic East County In Jonglei are seen during a community conference in Panyagor in Jonglei State: photo credit: JB Production

By Simon Deng

Members Twic East community on Saturday agreed to relocate eastwards to high land due to persistent flooding.

 The communiqués issued by the Secretary General for Twic East Community Association in Juba, Philip Aguer Panyang called on community members to form resettlement assessment committee to assess the area prior to resettlement of the people.

“Twic East community resolved to relocate eastwards to the highlands from its current settlement due to persistent flooding, the conference resolved to form a resettlement assessment committee which will be followed up by the County government, political leaders, community leaders, community resilience and development agency and international and national agencies working in Twic East County,” it said.

“The remnants, the current population in Twic East County estimated at 75,000 and the IDPs within South Sudan and refugees within East Africa shall be resettled in higher grounds in the east,” it added.

Twic East conference which arrived at the decision to relocate the population was headed by Bior Ajang Duot, the Chairperson of Twic East Community Association in Juba and was attended by 2678 community members.

The four-day conference conducted under the theme; “building a strong community together” was held between March 10 to March 13, 2024 at St. Peters Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Kongor in Panyagor.

Panyang said that Twic East community acknowledged the role played by the government in exploration and possible drilling of oil in the County and also resolved to form a committee to negotiate with the government and other stakeholders.

 He also said that Twic East community has resolved to reinforce the weak section along the dyke and possible extension of the dyke to weer-amuor area of Lith payam, adding that the community has resolved to contribute resources.

The community requested the World Food Programme (WFP) to support reinforcement of the identified weak areas on the dyke.

Panyang also noted that education, health services, roads and communication networks are essential to bring prosperity to the flood-displaced population.

“Twic East community resolved to present the construction of permanent dykes as a national project to be funded by the national government and supported by the State, County and traditional authorities,” he said.

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