South Sudan president vows to support peace revitalization forum
October 14, 2017 (JUBA) – South Sudan President Salva Kiir has pledged unconditional support to the peace revitalization forum, saying dialogue was the only way to end the conflict in the country.
Kuol, a representative of the former political detainees in the coalition government, also said his group was ready to participate in any form of consultation that would be conducted, either as individual or part of the Transitional Government of National Unity.
“For us, what is important is that the revitalization forum will provide a platform for the parties and the guarantors to evaluate the agreement and doing it this way will be a big boost to the agreement. The people need peace, they need the war to stop and for stability to return to the country. This is what is important. It is not whether we are consulted separately or as one body”, he said.
On Friday, a delegation from the regional bloc (IGAD) led by Ethiopia’s foreign affairs minister, Wokneh Gebeyehu met South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Taban Deng Gai.
“We, the ministers of IGAD, are very happy by the word of H.E. President Salva Kiir who is encouraging us to continue with our efforts and this is another day for South Sudan”, said the Ethiopian official.
Gebeyehu, however, said that the real peace makers are the South Sudanese people, adding that the meeting was very “fruitful. He noted that IGAD has a time table and that they expect, after consulting with all the parties, to evaluate and call the council of ministers followed by calling for a summit to report to heads of states.
South Sudan’s cabinet affair minister, Martin Elia Lomuro also said the meeting in the country’s capital, Juba was fruitful and that President Kiir appreciated the role IGAD has played in efforts to bring peace.
He said the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGONU) gave its proposal about the views on how the revitilization forum should be organized and the criteria for the selection of such groups.
The regional bloc, the minister further stressed, will respond and make clarification on some of the key points in the near future.
In June, a summit of IGAD heads of state and government decided to convene a meeting of the signatories of the South Sudan peace agreement to discuss ways to revitalize the peace implementation.
During the June summit, however, it was agreed that all groups be included in the discussion aimed at restoring a permanent ceasefire.
IGAD unveiled the timetable for the revitalization forum with South Sudanese leaders and the nation’s citizens. The process began on 13 October and ends on 17 October.
The South Sudanese government warned that the revitalization forum by IGAD, the regional bloc which mediated the 2015 peace accord, should not be another platform for negotiations of the peace accord between the two factions to the conflict.
Over a million people have fled South Sudan since conflict erupted in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir sacked Machar from the vice-presidency. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced in South Sudan’s worst ever violence since it seceded from Sudan in July 2011.
(ST)