CHESS Reconciles New Yourpea, Behwalay Conflicts
The reconciliation program, which was held in New Yourpea, climaxed with a soccer match
The locally based non governmental organization, known as Community Health Education Social Services (CHESS), has reconciled the dispute between two rival towns; New Yourpea and Behwalay in the Kparblee Administration District.
Under the program, titled: ‘Dialogues to Overturn Violent and Enhance Peace’, commonly DOVE-PEACE, the organization brought the two towns together after a dispute over the brutal killing of one Lorina Daybah Sam by a lady from Behwalay in January 2021.
According to Bangalore, DOVE-PEACE program manager, the towns were brought together under a tense negotiation or mediation to bring the towns together.
the CHESS DOVE-Peace program, funded by the UNDP, aims to settle disputes among cross-border communities.
“After a tense mediation, we brought the citizens of both towns together, where they agreed to stop any form of aggression against one another,” said Mr. Babdalie. “We also brought together the local leaders of both communities, including those at the district level, to cement the occasion.”
In January this year, the late Daybah was brutally murdered by her husband's girlfriend after a fist fight in Behwalay, souring the relationship between the towns. The murderer, still at large, is believed to have crossed over to the Ivory Coast.
In retaliation, the citizens of New Yourpea vandalized Behwalay Town, set ablaze the home of the murderer and made away with several cattle.
Since the incident, the citizens of Behwalay, especially pregnant women, have refused to attend the New Yourpea clinic in fear of revenge or further retaliation.
The reconciliation program enabled the communities to bury their hatchets and peacefully coexist once again as before, said Mr. J. Alexander Nya, the Executive Director of CHESS.