South Sudan’s Machar launches Jonglei Peace Initiative
April 2, 2012 (JUBA) – A long awaited peace initiative aimed at reconciling the communities of volatile Jonglei State will be launched on Tuesday 3 April in Bor, the capital of the state, the office of South Sudan’s Vice President has announced.
Thousands of people, mainly women and children, have been killed in Jonglei through raids and counter raids between communities in the six years since South Sudan gained self-rule in 2005 as part of a peace deal, which last year allowed the war-ravaged region to secede.
Even since independence in July last year, clashes have continued sparking a humanitarian crisis and a state-wide disarmament campaign that began in mid March.
As well as launching the disarmament initiative South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, also formed a committee chaired by Bishop Daniel Deng Bul, of the Episcopal Church of Sudan and South Sudan, to initiate peace and reconciliation conferences between Jonglei’s communities.
South Sudan’s Vice President Riek Machar Teny, who is currently in Bor town, will address the occasion on Tuesday, his press secretary, James Gatdet Dak, told Sudan Tribune.
The launch of the peace initiative comes after the Vice President toured all eleven counties of Jonglei state including Poshalla, Pibor, Akobo, Uror, Nyirol, Duk, Bor, Twic East, Pigi, Ayod and Fangak counties over the past two weeks.
During the visits he urged all the respective communities to surrender their guns to the SPLA – the former rebel group that is know the countries army – who are carrying out the disarmament and to prepare for peace conferences that will reconcile them.
The launch of the peace initiative will open the door for the peace committee under the chairmanship of Bishop Daniel Deng Bul to begin organising mini conferences with Jonglei’s various communities before a large peace and reconciliation conference which will include representatives of all the communities.
The launch will be witnessed by the national ministers, deputy ministers and chairpersons of commissions, members of parliament as well as elders who hail from Jonglei State.
Machar’s participation is especially significant considering the incident during the civil war when forces alligned to him attacked Bor killing many civilians during a period when he had split from the SPLA.
Last year Machar apologised for the incident but put it the context of what he claimed his split from the SPLA in 1991 had achieved. One of the reasons Machar fell out with the SPLA’s late chairman John Garang was the lack of emphasis on self-determination for South Sudan.
In the 2005 peace deal that Garang signed with Khartoum – after Machar had reconciled with the SPLA – a referendum on South Sudan independence was a key provision.
(ST)