[1] Political differences and power struggles within the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) led by John Garang, which had been fighting against successive regimes in Khartoum since 1983, had escalated into a split of the SPLM/A in 1991.

This year marked the organization of Wunlit peace and Reconciliation Conference by NSCC which brought together customary authorities from the Nuer of Western Upper Nile and the Dinka of Bahr-el-Ghazal.

In the same year, the Southern insurgency had lost its main foreign supporter Ethiopia with the fall of Haile Mengistu, while the Islamist rulers in Northern Sudan received massive military assistance from Iran.

Subsequently, fighting between Garang’s mainstream SPLM/A and the SPLM/A-Nasir factions under Riek Machar and Lam Akol, who turned to Khartoum, resulted in a particularly brutal period of warfare in Southern Sudan.

[3] On the local level, inter-communal fighting increased from 1993 onwards and included cattle raiding, looting, abductions of children and women, and targeted killings of civilians.

In addition, Kerubino Kuanyin Bol, one of the founding figures of the SPLM/A who had fallen out with Garang, began a series of devastating raids into his own home area of Gogrial / Twic in 1994 with the backing of the Khartoum regime.

Since the churches had failed to mediate between Garang and Machar, they focussed on starting at the grassroots level, even organising preparatory meetings in Kenya, where the NSCC was based at the time.“So in 1998, we brought together a group of Dinka and Nuer chiefs from the West Bank of the Nile.

[4] In terms of logistics, the NSCC assigned committee heads and rapporteurs to provide easels, boards, markers and tags to identify and differentiate the participants of the conference.

At Wunlit itself - which was strategically located in the border region of the inter-communal conflict, but had been a relatively small settlement before without the necessary infrastructure – the NSCC organised logistical support to guarantee the smooth running of the conference.

Further financial support was granted by the governments of Norway and the USA, the United Nations through UNDP, and international NGOs such as World Vision, Christian AID and PACT.

[7] Not least, external actors played a crucial part in recording, transcribing and publishing the comprehensive conference proceedings, which have since been made available online as an open source, for lessons learnt.

From the non-civilian side, it included commissioners, members of ethnic militias, as well as representatives from Garang’s SPLM/A and Machar’s South Sudan Defense Force (SSDF).

[9] Amongst the most prominent observers were the following: Salva Kiir Mayardit, then Deputy Commander-in-Chief of SPLM/A and since 2011 President of South Sudan; Nhial Deng Nhial, the SPLM Governor of Bahr el Ghazal region; Catholic Bishop Nathanial Garang of Yirol Diocese; Reverend Mathew Mathiang of Wau Diocese, Reverend William Lowrey from the Presbyterian Church;[10] Haruun Ruun, the executive secretary of NSCC; Andrew Kuac Mayol, SPLM Commissioner of Tonj County; Joseph Juac Kon, Commissioner of Leer County from the United Democratic Salvation Front (UDSF); Peter Nyot Kok, a professor of law and SPLM legal expert; former MPs Gabrial Yoal and Samuel Aru Bol as representatives of the Khartoum government; Faruk Gatkuoth, secretary-general of the UDSF of Machar; John Kulang Puot, a government-appointed commissioner of Fangak; Peter Par Jiek of the SSDF.

Chief Jacob Madhel Lang Juk from Twic said: “I am pleased that God has placed the hope of peace in our hearts so that we can end the fighting between us.”[9] The Sixth day featured the general addresses from Rumbek and guests in addition to the formation of discussion groups.

Dinka and Nuer started to move freely across each other’s territory with their animals to share grazing land, water, fishing ground and other natural resources.1 The local cross-border agreement and arrangement of Wunlit was respected by both sides.

It drew women representatives from the previous conferences as well as chiefs, community leaders, elders and youth in a bid to realise greater peace in Southern Sudan.

[7] However, there are also critical perceptions of the Wunlit conference, for instance a lack of inclusivity in contrast to the people-to-people principle and the fact that the NSCC gave the initiative of religious orientation.

[7] Further criticisms pointed to the lack of an enforcement mechanism to sustain the agreements and complained about an unequal access to services as well as about perceived disparate political rights.