By Francis Sadhere, Warri
WARRI/Nigeria: To put an end to the age-long communal crisis that has been raging between the people of Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh communities in Delta State, a Non-Governmental Organization, Development Initiative for Community Impact (DICI) has called on the women to be involved in peace building processes.
The women in the warring communities of Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh were on recently brought together by DICI to begin a peace talk to end the 23 years boundary dispute.
The women were gathered at an event tagged “Speak! 2018, Women Peace Forum: Interaction for Reconciliation” organised by the DICI in Warri.
While calling for tolerance among the populace, they urged the government not to withdraw the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the area while the peace negotiation goes on.
Mrs Rachael Misan-Ruppee, the convener and Programm Coordinator, DICI said the discussion was restricted to the women because they are good at peace building processes.
“The world is a global village but we have never being further divided than we are right now. Women have the power of peace building, when they are involved in peace process it is faster.
“DICI took the initiative to organise this program and bring women from Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh communities to a roundtable interaction to end the protracted 23 years conflict.
“I believed that the conflict has been lingering because women are not involved in the peace process, with this initiative, I am confident that the problem will be resolved in no distant time.
“The women sat, eat, sang hug each other and came up with an action plan on what to do in the next event, that means the peace process between both communities have begun,” she said.
Misan-Ruppee said there was no alternative to peace hence the NGO decided to bring the two communities to a roundtable dialogue.
Mrs Grace Egberike from Ogbe-Ijoh community thanked the NGO for initiating such a laudable peace process.
“Both communities should leave with each other peacefully, we are going back to inform other women to be part of the subsequent meeting of the peace building ” she said.
Also, Mrs Tisheneh Annah from Aladja community thanked the organisers noting that with the involvement of the women, peace would soon return to the volatile communities.
“Both communities should try and tolerate each other, stop fighting and embrace dialogue to solve their differences,” she said.
One of the resource persons, Mrs Bridget Afia described the peace building initiative as a “right step to the right direction”.
“I prayed that we build on it to achieve the desire result. We must begin to gather women to share understanding on the situation in both communities to bring lasting peace and attract sustainable development ” she said.
