20th July, 2018
South Sudan peace monitors on Thursday called on the South Sudanese warring parties to embrace the spirit of compromise and end the “senseless killings” in the country.
Augostino Njoroge, Deputy Chairperson of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), made the call a four-day during the closing of a four-day workshop in Juba.
He said negotiating parties at the ongoing talks in Sudan and Uganda should endeavour to resolve outstanding issues.
“The achievement of peace in South Sudan is a collective process.
“You must all make the decision that the conflict, especially the senseless killings, need to stop and say enough is enough,’’ Njoroge said.
The workshop, themed “Peace in Time: Creating awareness for the Youth on the South Sudan Peace Process,” brought together 200 students from the Youth Peacemaker Network at the Juba-based Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI).
“It is critical for all parties to fully abide by the agreements they have signed to date, including the Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities.
“Protection of Civilians and Humanitarian Access of December 2017 (ACoH), and particularly refrain from all acts of violence,’’ Njoroge said.
He said even though steps that had been taken toward the peace agreement, revitalisation process is “encouraging,” but that the spirit of compromise was needed to resolve the thorny issues.
“So much ground has been covered since the revitalisation process begun.
“This is indeed encouraging.
“JMEC continues to urge the parties in the conflict to embrace the spirit of compromise and to resolve all the outstanding issues,’’ Njoroge said.
The workshop provided training on the 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, the 2017 Cessation of Hostilities (ACoH) and the High-Level Revitalisation Forum (HLRF).
Njoroge said the youth of South Sudan “should be the vanguard and a force for good.”
His remarks came after South Sudanese President Salva Kiir pledged to end the devastating war in his country, saying he was ready to sign the agreement to bring peace to South Sudan.
“People of South Sudan are looking for peace and if that arrangement can bring peace to the people of South Sudan, I’m ready to take it,’’ Kiir said earlier.
The oil rich South Sudan has been torn apart by war since 2013 and the conflict has created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world.
The civil war has displaced over 4 million South Sudanese internally and externally.
According to the UN, over 7 million people, half of the country population, risked starvation.