Nuer community in Kenya commemorate 15 December atrocities in Juba

December 16, 2015 (NAIROBI) – South Sudan’s Nuer community in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday commemorated the mass atrocities and human rights violations in Juba against members of their ethnic group when the war erupted on 15 December 2013, and called for peace and forgiveness among the wider South Sudanese society.

Senior officials of the armed opposition faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) also participated in the event which was organized by Naath [Nuer] Youth Network organization in Nairobi.

Speaking at the occasion, Hussein Mar Nyuot, chairman of national committee for humanitarian affairs in the SPLM-IO, who was also the Chief Guest at the event, told the commemorators that the perpetrators of the Juba massacre can be forgiven by the Nuer community and the people of South Sudan in general but added justice will still take its course.

“We have to forgive when the perpetrators accept their mistakes but justice must take its course,” he told the crowd of hundreds of people who gathered.

“We are not here for revenge; revenge is not a good thing. Let us purchase the unity of this country with the precious blood of our people because we love South Sudan,” he said.

Chairman of the Naath Youth Network, Kuach Tutkuay, expressed doubt whether the peace agreement signed in August between president Salva Kiir and the opposition leader, Machar, will hold when the perpetrators have not admitted guilt and asked for forgiveness.

“Traditionally speaking, when someone is killed from a family, the steps are that the killer must accept to have committed a murder and blood cattle is paid to the family of the slain. After that, an earth priest breaks the feudal bone between the two families in a ritual manner. Then, and only then, the feud could be said to have ended,” Tutkuay said in a statement at the event marking the second anniversary of the massacre.

“Kiir’s government is not ready for peace. Delaying peace at this time should not be tolerated by the international community. We also condemned the act by Kiir’s government denying the victims community the right to commemorate 15th December in Uganda. This is not acceptable,” he added, referring to reports that the Nuer community in Kampala was blocked from entering a hotel to commemorate the day by agents of South Sudanese embassy in the Ugandan capital.

Members of the Nuer community in particular and South Sudanese in general have commemorated the day worldwide including in Juba, with youth members wearing t-shirts that read ‘We Will Never Forget 15 December 2013’.

Over 20,000 civilians, mainly from the Nuer ethnic group, were believed to have been killed in the first week of the violent conflict which started on 15 December 2013 when political debates over reforms within the ruling SPLM party plunged the country into war.

(ST)!