Chiefs from the Rezigat and Dinka Malual communities at a peace conference last year. (Courtesy).

The Dinka Malual of Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Arab Misseriya of Sudan are holding a peace conference on cross-border crimes that resulted in the killing of at least one hundred people in the past two years.

The five-day dialogue which began yesterday aims to address the seasonal conflict over grazing land and cross-border crimes including cattle raiding between the two communities.

According to Northern Bahr el Ghazal state Information Minister, cross-border insecurity has resulted in the killing of 75 Dinka Malual natives and 25 Arab Mesiriyas in the past two years.

William Anyuan told Eye Radio earlier today that the conference will decide to either compensate the victims or bring their perpetrators to book.

“They want to see whether the criminals will be brought to the book or they will do the usual blood compensation of the people who were killed,” he said.

Meanwhile, the regional peace coordinator at the South Sudan Peace Commission described the conference that is being attended by government officials from South Sudan and Sudan as a breakthrough.

“I believe this is a breakthrough from our chiefs and the joint-border peace committee,” because he said “there have been a lot of resolutions set all these years, but the two governments have never come together.

Mr. William Kolong assured the citizens that the resolutions of the conference will be implemented by both governments and the Chiefs.

“There will be resolutions that the chiefs and joint border peace committee have to implement,” he added.

For his part, Bakar Abdeljelil Bakar, the head of a Sudanese delegation expressed optimism his government will act on the expected outcome of the peace conference.

“The resolutions that we will come up with will be approved and sent to the state level to be a law so, that we can arrest the criminals and to hold everyone accountable,” he said.

The peace conference is funded by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and other international Agencies,