Central Equatoria State Traditional Leaders Conference

June 26 - 29, 2007

PREFACE

Letter to the Central Equatoria State Council of Chiefs conference from Chief Dut Arop head of Lakes State Council.

(This letter was read out to some 90 chiefs from across Central Equatoria State who gathered on 27 June with the goal of forming a council of chiefs. A council for Lakes State chiefs was formed in March 2007)

The Conference in Lakes State achieved its goal – to found a Traditional Leaders Council. This is a great historical occasion. For the first time in South Sudanese history, we have formed a permanent structure under the guidance of the traditional leaders. During colonialism and the war with the North, we chiefs suffered. Our authority was undermined. We were summoned to meet and discuss agendas being made for us. Now for the first time, we summon ourselves in the interest of our communities, the preservation of our cultures and the making of a culture of peace rooted in mutual respect.

When I went on the study tour of South Africa, Botswana and Ghana last year, we were given the chance to obtain fruitful knowledge about how our brothers and sisters govern traditionally in a modern world and how the office of chieftainship grows in the future.

On the tour I proposed to our hosts that we traditional leaders meet once a year. I urged our counterparts to visit us in Sudan. The exchange of ideas and seeing for ourselves what happens in our respective corners of the earth helps us in Africa to unite. Coming together in a like manner in our own Lakes State helps us as leaders of our communities to see for ourselves who we really are. As the King of the Anyuak said on the tour, if we chiefs unite then the people unite.

Another aim of the study tour was to allow Sudanese leaders to return home with ideas about how we could adapt what we learned and take the initiative. These ideas revolve basically around the question of how state structures and traditional authorities can both have a positive influence on traditional cultures peacefully living together side by side on the one hand and progress and modernization on the other.

Our Council of Traditional Leaders in Lakes State represents a place where all of the cultures can meet and encounter one another so that modernity and traditional can cooperate in developing the country and achieving cultural change. The Council gives us traditional leaders courage to decisively engage in the survival of our cultures and values. Our aims and needs do not contradict the needs of the state to uphold cultural identity and equal respect for each of our cultures. The Council shall have a positive impact on the state and the co-existence of all groups without any one dominating the other or trying to assimilate the other. Ethnic peace is necessary for the state to progress economically and politically. Already at a meeting of traditional leaders and chiefs summoned by the SPLM in 2004, the Kamuto Declaration that emerged represented a pledge on the part of the SPLM to recognize the Traditional Authority. The 2004 Local Government Framework further envisaged a central role for traditional authority.

When I returned from the study tour, I resolved to put what I had learned into practice. I immediately began to plan for initiating a state-wide Council of Traditional Leaders. The government has never stopped us from preserving our cultures. Quite to the contrary. I had only to complain of my own inactivity. We chiefs have done nothing. We sit there and do nothing. So I decided to do something. I wanted to be one of those who changes things. I wanted to do something new. So I met immediately after the tour with a representative of PASS to start planning for a Conference in Lakes State. The result was the birth of the Council.

The discussions that we held at the Conference testify to the vibrancy of our cultures and our traditional leaders. We spoke our minds, committed ourselves to better governance. For the aim of a traditional authority forum is to organize us chiefs to restore and strengthen our ability to act for the good of all members of our communities. We have shown ourselves capable of modernizing. We discussed carefully and fully what principles we wanted to guide us. We have adopted a charter that binds us to principles of autonomy and non-partisanship, to financial independence and taking responsibility and not wait for donors or grantors. We agreed that I as Chairperson should not make decisions alone. That is not in our tradition. All the participant chiefs at the Conference proposed that an executive group be formed of representatives from each county, and reflecting all nationalities in Lakes State.

Good governance means being transparent and professional. For this reason we have agreed to have a secretary and treasurer who are professional. We have introduced regularity into our organization. We have agreed to hold meetings of the Council twice a year. In the meantime the Executive Group and I are to meet frequently. The Council meetings and the Executive meetings are to rotate so that our communities feel that we are in touch with their needs and so that we can mediate more easily in case of conflict within and between counties and communities. I am planning to take a tour of the Lakes State to meet the people in each county. We shall be constructing a permanent structure to meet, to hold our archives, and to be a cultural centre. This not only something pragmatic. It serves as a symbolic reminder of our self-determination.

This Conference offered a chance that we have never had in our history. A chance to restore our authority and tradition, but to make this time a tradition that sustains peace.