Cultural issues are pretty high in my country (South Sudan), and at one incidence, a man of Madi tribe accidentally killed another man from Acholi tribe causing a row between the two tribes. When the matter was reported to police, the family of the deceased refused the case to be handled by the police rather preferred to settle the matter traditionally. This energized the conflicting party to allay any security organs from intervening in what they considered a traditional affair. During the reconciliation talks, the parents of the deceased opted to be compensated with a woman to be given to the only surviving brother of the deceased to bear children on the deceased’s behalf. Eventually, a young girl of 12 years from the Madi tribe was handed over to this family after the hunt for an older woman was in vain, arousing our intervention as Pita Women’s Development Association. We urged the parties to get a more mature woman on the human rights grounds and in protest they insisted that a young girl was preferred in their tradition.
Although the case is not yet resolved, through our appeal to higher authorities, our boss currently has custody of the young girl pending a just and fair decision. In all this, we learn that, it’s very difficult to achieve human rights, peace and justice at the same time; and in so doing, one has to be sacrificed!Story as told by our member from South Sudan.
