“I Am Working with Traditional Rulers to Bring Back Peace”

What is your assessment of peace efforts by traditional rulers in your area of jurisdiction?
In my area of command, traditional authorities are trying their best in order to bring back peace in their villages. We know that many of them have been sent out of their villages by the armed separatist. However, they are trying to go back and even from afar; they are trying to communicate with the population in order to bring back peace in their various villages. We know that the task is not easy but they are well placed to bring back peace. Amba fighters are not people coming from space. They are people from the various villages. They are children of the area or neighbouring villages. They are well known by the population. In that vein, what I advise them to do is to continue to help the State because it is the traditional rulers who can talk to them in the dialect. They can also talk to the parents of those who are today calling themselves Amba and equally talk to men of God in their various areas in order to see how all these efforts put together are going to bring peace and serenity in their various villages. 

What is the collaboration between the administrative authority that you are and the traditional rulers within the context of ensuring a return to peace?
Well, in my own area of command, the collaboration is on a very good footing. We are collaborating very well. In spite the fact that some of them have been forced out of their villages, they are doing their best to work with administrative authorities in order to bring back peace in those villages even from afar. You know traditional rulers are auxiliary to the administration. It means that the administration is supposed to have traditional rulers as pillars in those villages and those chiefs in my area are doing well. They are working seriously in order to bring back peace in their villages. It is through them that many things are now coming back to the various villages. It is through them that the administration is sending information that concerns the whole population and through them that all projects executed by the State in the villages are followed-up. That said, in my area of command, I am very happy with what my chiefs are doing. They are there like Chief Nofuru working permanently to bring back our misled children to the administration for peace to return in his village. We have others like Chief Modiko, Chief Benjamin Itoe and others who are trying their best. I am trying to work with my traditional rulers in o...