The two-day, peace initiative brings together political leaders, youth, women as well as other stakeholders - Courtesy

A group of youth from Mayiandit and Leer Counties of Unity State have called for a peaceful coexistence among the two communities.

The appeal was made at the conclusion of a two day peace and reconciliation dialogue in Juba.

The peace initiative comes nearly a month after armed youths from the three communities of Mayiandit, Leer and Koch engaged in a circle of violence.

As a result, dozens of people were killed and many others wounded, while thousands were forced to flee the areas.

The incidents which were accompanied by attacks on aid workers received International condemnation and calls for a government investigation into alleged human rights violations.

Some of the young people who participated in the dialogue believe the conflicts are fueled by social media hate speech and misinformation.

Nyayiey Gatluak, the founder of the advocacy organization Bentiu Youth for Peace Initiative says welcomed the dialogue between communities in three counties in the state.

“I think this is a very great initiative to speak about what has happened on the ground, it is important for it to happen here because the people here as well fuel the conflict on the ground,” Nyayiey told Eye Radio on Friday.

“My message to these three counties, in fact, to all South Sudanese is that we are not enemies to each other. Let’s stop killing each other and let’s find solutions to working together.

“I feel there are some individuals supporting this conflict so that we can go our separate ways and this is not a good idea. I encourage everybody to put their guns down and support peace.”

Some of the youth who spoke to Eye Radio also welcomed the peaceful resolution of conflict between the three counties in Unity state.

“Let’s go back and accept peace, and again to the intellectuals, I have seen they are the major problem in our country right now. Let them stay away from propaganda, let’s spread the message of peace,” unnamed youth told Eye Radio.

“To the government of South Sudan, please implement peace. We need good infrastructures, jobs and all these things to make sure that we are minding our own business.”

“The war is also believed to fuel by misconception, and how is this done? It is done through the media. So we need to control the kind of information we give out and to the receivers, try to find out how authentic the information is,” said Nyalony Gatwang.

“My message to the people of Mayiandit and Leer, we are brothers and sisters. We are not different. So let’s stop killing ourselves because that will never help,” Chol Ngut told Eye Radio.

“It is obvious that the people of Southern Unity have not been experiencing inter-communal instabilities for the past few years. And if there are issues, people must come together and talk,” said Duk Stephen.

“People must express their bitterness and their grievances and I think having a meeting like this helps a lot because they have been living with so much bitterness in their hearts and they need to be listened to.

“They need to be assured that there is time for everything, it was not good yesterday but there is hope that it will be better tomorrow.

“If they don’t come together, if we don’t create avenues that bring them together, they will not be able to tell themselves that let’s leave the things of yesterday and work towards a better future.

“They should first understand the importance of life, they should understand that they have something to contribute to their communities. If they continue killing themselves, they will not get the opportunities.

“Why should they continue fighting while people are implementing peace? In Juba, the politicians are eating at one table, implementing peace, so why do they allow themselves to die while people are enjoying the dividends of peace?”

The two-day, peace initiative brings together political leaders, youth, women as well as other stakeholders.

The peace dialogue supported by the US International Development Agency, USAID through Shejah Salam organization aims at bringing back lasting peace in southern Unity.