EAC launches peace caravan to promote peaceful coexistence, good neighborliness

The East African Community (EAC) on Monday launched a peace caravan aimed at promoting peaceful coexistence, good neighborliness and peaceful resolution of disputes among border communities through experiential learning from practices of other border communities in the region.

A statement by the EAC headquarters in Tanzania’s northern city of Arusha said the initiative, called peace caravan and benchmarking tour for border communities in Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan, was launched in Namanga on the Kenya-Tanzania border.

According to the statement, the initiative was launched by the EAC secretariat in collaboration with Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan, and in partnership with the African Union Border Program. It is also aimed at sensitizing border communities on other ongoing national, regional and continental initiatives to peacefully and sustainably resolve border issues as well as learn from experiences, lessons and practices of border communities where border disputes have been peacefully and successfully resolved.

The seven-day caravan that involved representatives of the Atekar community composed of Turkana in Kenya, the Toposa of South Sudan, and the Karamajong of Uganda, started in Lodwar in Turkana county, Kenya, and traveled by bus to Namanga border through Eldoret to interact and learn from the experiences of the Maasai community, said the statement. Enditem