World urges gov’t to reinvigorate efforts toward lasting peace …as South Sudan marks 9th Independence Anniversary

By Charles Lotara
The UN Refugee Agency, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee has called the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity to scale-up efforts and establish lasting peace and security to end one of Africa’s largest displacement crises.
In a statement distributed by APO last week, Filippo Grandi, the UN Commissioner for Refugees said it was time for citizens displaced during the conflict to return home.
“It’s crucial that South Sudan continues on the road to lasting peace,” he said. “After years of conflict, the South Sudanese people deserve the chance to return to their homes, to live in safety in their communities, and to focus on building a bright and prosperous future,” Grandi added.
The Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM) in its recent meeting reckoned that civilians’ premises that were occupied by armed forces when conflict erupted are being vacated.
Dafaalla Hamid Mohamed Dafaalla, the Deputy Chairman of the monitoring body said while the ceasefire continues to hold, sexual gender-based violence remained rampant, making women and girls vulnerable.
Both the UN and CTSAMVM acknowledged that the new government has made notable progress in implementing the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan signed in 2018.
“South Sudan has also shown a commendable commitment to welcoming people fleeing war and persecution, including during the COVID-19 pandemic when hundreds of refugees have arrived in the country from Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic (CAR),” the UN Refugee Commissioner said.
However, Grandi warned that ravaging violence and intercommunal conflict, especially in Jonglei and the Central Equatoria States threaten the destabilization of “these hard-won” efforts.
The government has since set a committee to carry out a full-scale disarmament exercise with priority to areas engulfed by intercommunal violence and revenge killings.
In his 9th Independence Anniversary address to the nation, President Salva Kiir affirmed that the government will not allow inter-communal violence to threaten the political gains realized by the regime.
“As the government, we will not allow this new threat to reverse our gains. We will pursue a multi-layered approach to resolve this problem once and for all,” Kiir said.
He added that the government was mulling on organizing intra and inter-communal dialogues before embarking on full-scale disarmament of illegally armed civilians.
“First, the government in the coming days will initiate inter and intra communal dialogue so that we can address the root causes of this fighting both between and within our communities. Secondly, alongside this process, we shall launch full-scale disarmament of the civil population, an exercise which is already underway in some parts of the country,” the President affirmed.
Kiir reiterated that his commitment to bring about lasting peace in the country, despite prevailing political and humanitarian hardships worsened by the coronavirus pandemic.
“I have said it and I am repeating it that my commitment to the cause for peace and stability in our country remained total. In this context, I have strived to do all I can to steer the peace process forward,” he said.