Two warring Plateau communities sign peace deal

By Kingsley Chukwuka

Two communities of Riyom and Bassa Local Government Areas in Plateau State have agreed to end hostilities, which have culminated in the death of hundreds of people.

The communities resolved to put aside their differences and live in peace irrespective of tribe or religion.

The agreement was brokered by the Geneva, Switzerland-based centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), which is an independent mediation organization, dedicated to helping improve global response to armed conflict.

Signing the peace accord in Jos on Thursday, the Project Associate Officer, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), for the Middle Belt, Mrs Olufemi Domkap, said the resurgence of violence in these communities informed the need to sign an agreement which is a call to action on a road map to peace.

Damkap said before the agreement was concluded, HD had held bilateral, multilateral engagements and has organized four broad based town-hall meetings with 490 stakeholders which held on the 25th and 26th February, 1st and 2nd March 2021, respectively.

According to her: “We need to dialogue over our issues agreeing that we don’t want this conflict to continue. We also need to form a synergy and share information through exchange of contacts and continue to dialogue until peace is sustained.

“What these communities are agreeing to do today is to combine the agreement that was signed by the both of them at different times, aligning them together with the peace agreement that was signed in Jos peace process in 2014”, Damkap said.

On her part, the HD National Expert Adviser for Gender, Gloria Thomas, said HD is committed to ensuring that the agreement signed is not a one-off event, saying that a follow up will be sustained to ensure the sustainability of the process.

“Sometimes these agreements are signed and everybody just walks away, but for us it will not be business as usual. After this there will be a series of activities that will be carried out to keep the communities in constant communication with one another”, Thomas said.

Responding, a participant and a stakeholder, Hon. Sunday Abdul, said what has taken place is a means to an end of the protracted crisis in the communities.

Abdul, who is a former National President, Irigwe Development Association, said the agreement stipulates that the warring communities will begin to talk to each other about their problems and then reach a solution.

Our correspondent reports that in the bid to curb conflict, HD had earlier launched the Early Warning and Early Response Systems (EWERS), coordinated by Nandom Fantur with two analysts, Igomu Igoche and Ojo Emmanuel.