Wunlit

Wunlit is a village in Tonj State, South Sudan.[1] The village is most widely known for a peace conference held there in 1999.[2]

Wunlit
boma village
Wunlit
Coordinates: 7°58′28.5″N 28°50′19.9″E
CountrySouth Sudan
StateTonj State (formerly Warrap State)
PayamThiet

Wunlit peace conference
Main article: Wunlit Peace Conference

The Wunlit Peace Conference of 1999 was an important part of the People-to-People Peace Process in Southern Sudan. It was facilitated by the New Sudan Council of Churches. The People-to-People Peace Process began in 1998 with a series of local conferences; it continued with the Wunlit Conference, which brought together Dinka from Bahr al-Ghazal and Nuer from Western Upper Nile, and a series of subsequent conferences in Akobo, Waat, and Liliir. It culminated in the All Southern Peace conference of 2001, which was held in Kisumu, Kenya. The Wunlit Conference grew out of agreement made in December, 1998, by Dinka and Nuer chiefs in Lokichogio, in northern Kenya, and a series of visits to Western Upper Nile by Dinka chiefs in early-1999, and to Thiet by Nuer chiefs in mid-1999.[3][4]

Residents of Wunlit specially constructed a village to accommodate the roughly 1,500 people who took part in the conference. The village consisted of 150 houses and a large meeting hall, which was later used as a school.[5][6] Residents of the surrounding area also built a 12 kilometer road and an airstrip so that observers and participants in the conference could arrive there.[7][note 1]

In July 2003, a second meeting, called "Wunlit 2," was held in Wunlit to address cattle raiding being carried out by soldiers. The meeting had roughly one hundred participants and was facilitated by the New Sudan Council of Churches. Participants resolved to establish a series of joint police posts in border areas to monitor cattle raiding and agreed on methods to arbitrate in cattle disputes.[8]

Notes
  1. For a discussion of how the Wunlit Peace Conference fit into the wider People-to-People Peace Process and the broader work of the New Sudan Council of Churches, see Hadley Jenner (2000). “When Truth is Denied, Peace Will Not Come”: The People-to-People Peace Process of the New Sudan Council of Churches (PDF) (Report). cdacollaborative. p. 21.

References
  1. Mayom, Jok P. (4 October 2015). "President Kiir Creates 28 States Of South Sudan". Gurtong.net. Juba, South Sudan. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  2. Karl, Vick (7 July 1999). "Sudanese Tribes Confront Modern War". Washington Post. Thiet. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  3. Öhm, Manfred (2014). War and Statehood in South Sudan (Studien Zu Ethnizitat, Religion Und Demokratie). Baden-Baden, Germany: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. p. 145-151. ISBN 384871843X.
  4. Hutchinson, Sharon (2009). "Chapter 2: Peace and Puzzlement: Grass-roots peace initiatives between the Nuer and Dinka of South Sudan". In Schlee, Günther; Watson, Elizabeth E. (eds.). Changing Identifications and Alliances in North-East Africa: Sudan, Uganda and the Ethiopia-Sudan borderlands. Berghahn Books. pp. 49–72. ISBN 1845456041.
  5. Öhm, Manfred (2014). War and Statehood in South Sudan (Studien Zu Ethnizitat, Religion Und Demokratie). Baden-Baden, Germany: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. p. 145-151. ISBN 384871843X.
  6. "The 1999 Wunlit Dinka-Nuer Peace & Reconciliation Conference". paanluelwel.com. PaanLuel Wël. 19 December 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  7. Hadley Jenner (2000). “When Truth is Denied, Peace Will Not Come”: The People-to-People Peace Process of the New Sudan Council of Churches (PDF) (Report). cdacollaborative. p. 21.
  8. "Sudan: Peace conference resolves to stop cattle rustling". IRIN. 14 July 2003.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.