Twenty-nine communities spread across five local government areas of the southern part of Kaduna State have signed a peace pact and pledged to ensure the stoppage of killings in the communities.
Leaders from the five local government areas, made up of Kachia, Kaura, Jema’a, Sanga and Zangon Kataf, signed the pact after a parley brokered by a Swiss Government-sponsored Nairobi-based inter- governmental organisation, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.
At least 20 people were killed when clashes erupted among communities in Jema’a Local Government Area of the state recently.
The areas affected were Godogodo, Ninte, Gada Biyu, Gidan Waya, Antang and Dogon Fili
as well as Kagoro in Kaura Local Government.
Leaders from the five local government areas, made up of Kachia, Kaura, Jema’a, Sanga and Zangon Kataf, signed the pact after a parley brokered by a Swiss Government-sponsored Nairobi-based inter- governmental organisation, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.
At least 20 people were killed when clashes erupted among communities in Jema’a Local Government Area of the state recently.
The areas affected were Godogodo, Ninte, Gada Biyu, Gidan Waya, Antang and Dogon Fili
as well as Kagoro in Kaura Local Government.
In a communiqué at the end of the meeting, the communities said that they were committed to the peaceful resolution of the issues that led to the clashes and assured their people and Nigerians of their continued commitment to uphold the peace in southern Kaduna.
Those who signed the peace pact included Senator Babale from Gwong community; Dakachi Anthony representing Jema’a Local Government; Norman Shekarau, Kachia LGA; Ignatius Raymond, Kaura LGA; Danlami Adamu, Sanga LGA; and Simon Saddih representing the Zango-Kataf Local Government Area.
While acknowledging that inter-communal dialogue, which focused on the prevalent farmer/herdsmen issues and the return cum settlement of internally displaced persons, should be a continuous process, the leaders said that they were committed to sustaining the peace by ensuring the implementation of the dialogue recommendations.
The communiqué said, “The inter-communal dialogue between the 29 ethnic groups has succeeded in helping us to begin to jointly find solutions to our issues and concerns. The community-driven approach has given us direct involvement in finding these solutions. The dialogue cut across all levels of civil society and has sought the buy-in and support of key stakeholders (federal, state and local governments, the business community, traditional rulers, community and religious leaders, women and young people).
“ The bottom-up approach provided a different model for addressing the issues and was received positively by our communities. We cultivated a new culture among ourselves of embracing dialogue as a mechanism for dealing with our disputes, hoping to ultimately lead to peaceful co-existence between us.”
The peace pact, titled, Kafanchan Peace Declaration, also assured stakeholders that every attempt must be made to end the attacks and ensure that there were no reprisals.
It added, “We are conscious that the failure to implement an agreement is worse than not reaching an agreement at all. Thus, the communiqué outlines one key issue that has affected the implementation and explains how to shore up factors that can positively affect its implementation and eliminate, contain or manage those which may undermine it.”
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Godwin Isenyo, Kaduna
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