Lockdown not an excuse to ground peace deal, group tells government

South Sudanese civil society groups, the church and women in the country have called on the government to remain unfazed in the face of COVID-19 pandemic and continue discharging its duties diligently.

The group—consisting of South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC), the South Sudan Civil Society Forum (SSCSF) and the South Sudan Women’s Coalition for Peace (SSWCP)—urged the government not to use partial lockdown as a scape goat to slow down the peace deal and service delivery in key institutions.

 ‘‘We still want to urge the parties to [speed up] the creation of the sub national governments. This is something that can happen with or without the lockdown,” said Jame David Kolok, the Executive Director of Foundation for Democracy and Accountable Governance [FODG].

Kolok spoke during the launch of 10 Days of Action for Peace campaign in the country which ran from February 15 to February 22.

 The period will make the first anniversary of the commencement of the Transitional Period of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the conflict in the country.

Kolok said the government needs to honour the peace deal by reconstitution the assembly. He described this as overdue.  

He further said that they would ensure that in terms of the civil society engagement with the parties would not only be confined in Juba

“We want to assure you that this statement we have read here will go to all the governors. We have a network of our colleagues who are based in the states; I will be begging the government to quickly move to establish the state governments including the commissioners because that is where the engagement for peace is much needed.”

“So please let us advocate for the government to continue functioning whether the lock down is there or not there.”

Executive Director of Organization for Responsive Governance Rajab Mohandis said the country was in an emergency situation almost in almost everything and that this was the most perfect time for the government to remain proactive.

“We will expect critical institutions of the government including the Council of Ministries to remain operational to fight this multiple crisis in our country,” he said.

Church adds voice

The chairperson of South Sudan Council of Churches Bishop Arkanjel Wani Lemi stated in the joint statement that although efforts have been made on calling leaders to fulfil their responsibility in the country, unfortunately, most of these calls have fallen in deaf ears.

He added that while they acknowledge ‘reduction of military confrontations among forces of parties to the peace agreement,’ positive steps are yet to be realised. Such include holding few armed forces accountable for crimes against civilians and the reconstitution of the executive of the new unity government as well as appointment of all ten state governors.

“The country has continued to witness; devastating intercommunal violence, displacement of civilians, sexual and gender-based violence, unnecessary roadblocks for extorting money and inflicting pain on travelers and humanitarian workers alongside an economy that falters with soaring inflation rates,” Lemi said

They said lamented the increasing need for humanitarian assistance saying that is a clear depiction that the country is still going through insecurity.

They stated: “Reports from aid agencies persistently indicate increase in the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance, showing that the peace agreement has not helped to significantly scale down the humanitarian crisis in the country.

Moreover, most parties remain recalcitrant to implementation of the 35 per cent affirmative action quota.’’