Lakes State SPLM women’s league holds training in Rumbek

By Manyang Mayom

November 27, 2008 (RUMBEK) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement
(SPLM) in Lakes state is carrying out a training workshop for the SPLM
women’s league in Rumbek at Kony-rot lodge.

The five-day workshop, which started on Nov. 24 and will come to an
end on Nov. 28, is attended by 27 women variously from the eight
counties of Lakes state.

According to the director of the South Sudan sector for women’s
affairs Migrate Michael, this training is organized by the SPLM
secretariat of popular organizations with funding and facilitation
from “our friendly country the Norwegian government, the Norwegian
People’s Aid” (NPA).

“The secretariat of popular and syndicated organizations for Southern
Sudan sector has been heading such training exercises in all ten
states of Southern Sudan in which 340 women are confirmed trained in
the rest of the nine states of South Sudan,” said a NPA
representative.

“We are building the capacity of women in Southern Sudan and I hope
all women in Southern Sudan must do it,” she said. This workshop is
hosted under the themes, “SPLM empowering women” and “Women Can Do
It.”

Moreover, deputy SPLM chairperson Isaac Kon Anok said that the SPLM
secretariat of Southern Sudan sector is playing a great role in
building capacity of women in politics. This is a high-quality step to
empower women through capacity-building training in order to save the
nation for the welfare of South Sudanese people, he added. He told
participants to work hard to change the situation of women in Lakes
state so that they will boost up their standard of living.

Anok urged SPLM politicians to preserve the required 25%
representation of women in Southern Sudan government.

Lakes state Secretary for Popular and Syndicated Organizations Rebecca
Enoch Macuoc called on the government of Southern Sudan to develop
roads in the most remote county of Lakes, Rumbek North (Maper). She
also said that communities of Lakes state need more safe, clean
drinking water and this is a duty of SPLM party to deal with before
the election.

According to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005
that ended the long war between Southern Sudan and the Khartoum
government, 25% of seats in parliament are to be allotted to women in
Sudan. But Macuac demanded that women get 75% instead of 25% per cent,
saying that women are qualified enough to rule in this country, Sudan.

(ST)