Governor of Wau State, Angelo Taban | PHOTO | Gurtong Trust

The Governor of Wau is calling for a review of the Marial- bai agreement, after it was violated by cattle keepers recently.

In March, at least 15 people, including a 2-day-old baby, lost their lives when herders from Tonj attacked the farming host community in the area.

Wau State officials also reported that 5 women and two young girls were sexually assaulted in the series of attacks attributed to farming land dispute.

They said this was a violation of the December 2016 Marial-bai Agreement which obligates the governments of Wau, Gogrial and Tonj to regulate the relationship between pastoralists and farmers.

Every dry season, cattle keepers from Gogrial and Tonj migrate to Wau state for green pasture and water.

But the agreement stipulated that, no pastoralist shall be allowed to carry a gun during migration in the dry season to Wau.

However, armed pastoralist from Tonj have been reportedly crossing over to Wau – which resulted in the loss of lives and property.

Governor Angelo Taban was speaking during the celebration of the SPLA Day in Wau yesterday.

“We as leaders of Wau and Tonj, we are organizing as soon as possible to have a conference that will bring together as the leaders, and members of the Legislative Assembly of Tonj and Wau states and herders and farmers, to re-review some of the memos.”

Governor Taban said that the former Marial-Bai memorandum of understanding has been violated several times. He added that this has to be reviewed to keep peace and order between the farmers and herders.