The Meeting

The Meeting tells the story of an unlikely peace process unfolding in one of the world’s most fragile regions.

Four communities — the Murle, Dinka Bor, Lou Nuer, and Gawaar Nuer — have been locked in a deadly cycle of conflict for generations, across one of South Sudan’s most volatile fault lines: Jonglei and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area.

The roots of The Meeting trace back to Pieri, where in 2021 an historic gathering took place. Under the auspices of Lou Nuer spiritual leader Dak Kueth, it was the first time in living memory that leaders from these groups sat together.

That meeting — now recognised as a major breakthrough — sparked a decline in large-scale armed mobilisations and gave rise to the Intercommunal Governance Structures (ICGS): a framework through which community leaders continue to choose dialogue over revenge.

Despite ongoing tensions and threats, these leaders are now working together to reopen roads, return abducted women and children, restore livelihoods, and coordinate on local security efforts.

Filmed at the sixth ICGS meeting in Pibor, The Meeting bears witness to a growing movement of face-to-face dialogue. Beneath the shade of a tamarind tree, former fighters and chiefs speak with raw honesty about loss, anger, and the fragile possibility of peace. The film captures not only the breakthroughs, but also the setbacks — the moments that test the resilience of dialogue itself.

At its heart, The Meeting is about what becomes possible when enemies encounter the humanity in one another.

“This peace is real… Today I want to tell you that I am no longer a cattle raider. I will not continue to raid people’s cattle or to abduct children. I am a peace ambassador,”
— Zaari Ibon, Murle youth leader

Through connection, partnership, and accountability, the leaders of Jonglei and GPAA are proving that sustainable peace does not begin in conference rooms or cabinet offices — it begins under the tree, within communities, where those once divided by violence choose to listen, forgive, and lead.

For more information on the Pieri Peace Process, see here.