By Femi Bolaji, Jalingo

TWO communities in Shomo and Jole in Lau Local Government Area of Taraba State have finally agreed to stop fighting each other over an old fishing pond that has remained a source of constant conflict and destruction between them.

The lingering killings and destruction that have engulfed the two neighbours have been over the rightful owner of the prehistory Marmi fishing pond that is supposed to bind the two communities but has turned out to be a source of conflict for about four decades.

In fact, in 2020, the conflict between the two communities escalated to the extent that the Taraba State Government had to wade in to halt the spate of killing and destruction in order to prevent it from becoming a genocide. Under the peace intervention exercise initiated by the Taraba State Government, the operation of the controversial fish pond was suspended and a commission of enquiry chaired by Justice Silas Haruna, was set up to unravel the cause of the conflict and proffer solutions.

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At the end of the probe, the state government released a White Paper with far-reaching conditions to arrest the incessant clashes between the two communities and bring about a lasting peace between them. The two neighbours have been made to sign the peace deal brokered by the state government based on the White paper it produced. At the peace-signing between Shomo and Jole communities in Jalingo, the Taraba State Deputy Governor, Haruna Manu, said that the pact is one of the measures adopted by the state government to end the needless bloodbath over the ownership of the fish pond.