South Sudan’s IDPs urge rival leaders to sign peace agreement
August 16, 2015 (BENTIU) – South Sudanese internal displaced persons (IDPs) in the oil-rich Unity state have called on both top leaders of the warring parties not to by bypass the 17 August deadline fixed by regional Intergovernmental Authorities on Development (IGAD) to bring to an end the 20 months of deadly conflict in the country.
The group called on both president Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar to seal the deal by 17 August without impediment. Samuel Reath Koch, one of the elders in the camp told Sudan Tribune they were tired of war and wanted peace to come back as soon as possible.
“Today our coming out is signifying the frustrations toward the war. Our children need better education not war; the insecurity is causing us death and hunger. We need peace for us to return home to cultivate,” Koch said.
He called on world leaders not to abandon South Sudanese people in the current suffering of war, naming the United States government to lead the push towards ending the war this week.
“We are showing to the world that we need to go home and going home needs peace to be signed. That peace needs to be guided and must be respected by both warring parties, but not a temporary deal that will return the South Sudanese into another killing,” he said.
“The world has seen the suffering we are passing through in IDPs camps, neighboring countries and those who have been tortured and killed while hiding in the bushes and children die daily,” he lamented.
He said the protest was aimed at sending strong message from the very people who felt horrified by the situation across the camps to IGAD member states, USA, UK and Norway who once assisted in ending the 21 years of civil war with Sudan in January 2005.
“We ask you once more to help us out of this mess to bring a lasting peace to South Sudan,” he added.
Elizabeth Nyaboth a 17-year old girl said the world must reign on the warring parties to bring peace to South Sudan. She said, the current conflict was denying them access to education due to what she described as greed for tribal political power in Juba.
“We are expecting Dr. Riek Machar Teny and president Salva Kiir to sign peace agreement on Monday 17 August so that we can go back and start our education. We need peace today not tomorrow,” she said.
Elizabeth Nyachap, a women representative in the camp said majority of women were victims in the South Sudan’s conflicts.
“South Sudanese women are in dire condition because of the current conflict, they are on daily rape, and being abducted and killled because they resisted forceful sex by the warring groups in the country,” she added.
She hoped for the 17 August deadline set by IGAD-Plus to end the war, which she said, “will help women to escape from these horrified evil doers.”
The United Nations base in Unity state is housing tens of thousands of the displaced people as the ongoing fighting between opposition forces allied to former vice president, Machar and pro-government and militia forces allied to Kiir forced hundreds of thousands of flee their homes in the state.
(ST)