Machar urges citizens to embrace reconciliation, healing
July 3, 2021 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s First Vice President Riek Machar has called upon the people of South Sudan nationwide to address their grievances and reconcile as a way of healing.
He made the remarks while officially launching the consultative process for the establishment of the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing in the South Sudan capital, Juba last week.
Organised by the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ministry with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Netherlands Kingdom, the event marked the commencement of the National Technical Committee, which comprises of representatives of the line institutions of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity, parties to the peace deal and civil society actors tasked with drafting the Commission of Truth, Reconciliation and Healing legislation in South Sudan.
Machar described the launch of the National Technical Committee as an important milestone toward fulfilling the requirements of Chapter V of the revitalized peace deal signed in September 2018.
He further said the Governance Cluster instructed the Justice and Constitutional Affairs ministry to engage with the African Union (AU) as a prelude to the establishment of the Hybrid Court in South Sudan.
The armed opposition leader urged the partners to the peace agreement to assist and fund the implementation of Chapter V. Chapter V of the peace deal signed by President Salva Kiir and Machar, calls for establishing a Hybrid Court, transitional justice, accountability, reconciliation and healing institutions.
It provides a pathway to building sustainable peace based on the recognition that it can only be achieved through accountability for serious international crimes, truth recovery about past violations and underlying structural causes of political violence, as well as the restoration of dignity to South Sudanese citizens.
It also envisages a holistic set of complementary mechanisms for the purpose, namely, a Hybrid Court, the Commission on Truth, Reconciliation and Healing and the Compensation and Reparation Authority.
The measures were designed by the AU as appropriate to an African and South Sudanese context.
(ST)