The national Minister of Information Michael Makuei has urged residents of Bor, Jonglei State, to embrace peace and unity to contribute to the state’s development.

Makuei made the call during a prayer ceremony held by the Episcopal Church of South Sudan in Bor Malual Chaat on Saturday to honour those who sacrificed their lives in the independence war.

He advised the community to refrain from retaliatory attacks and counter-attacks, saying such actions only lead to the destruction and losses of lives rather than the growth of the state.

He urged the individuals to exercise their rights legitimately rather than resorting to violence to resolve issues that threaten the community’s coexistence.

Makuei’s plea comes a month after President Salva Kiir met with Governor Denay Jok Chagor for a brief on the security situation in the state, where he urged the youth in Jonglei to embrace peaceful coexistence.

President Kiir urged the youth to participate in peaceful activities that would help the state’s stability.

Salva Mathok Gengdit, a member of the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly, lamented that the arms embargo imposed on South Sudan is preventing the country from finding short-term solutions to disputes in Jonglei State and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA).

He advocated for buffer zones be established between the Pibor Administrative Area and Jonglei, with the army assigned to supervise security in both areas.

 “This buffer zone is to be assigned to SSPDF by providing them with helicopters, gunships, and drones to monitor with orders to kill anybody who appears in that buffer zone as a red line. These forces with gunships can be stationed in Bor Airstrip,’’ he suggested.

According to Mathok, the government should also engage in disarmament, schedule additional peace conferences, and establish a high-level committee at the presidential level to provide roads, schools, and health centres, among other things.

“I appeal to those who gave up and concluded that the Greater Jonglei conflict has no solution. That is a sign of failure and that failure should not exist,” he said.

“I am confident that we will achieve lasting peace if we all commit ourselves to the betterment of our beloved country. There are well-educated people in Greater Jonglei, and each of them will contribute ideas for the final peace in the region. “

An activist knelt in front of the Greater Jonglei community, pleading with the authorities of Jonglei State to reach out to their GPAA counterparts as soon as possible to organise a Joint Security Force and build a buffer zone between Jonglei and GPAA.

The decision to form a joint security force and a buffer zone between the two areas, according to Bol Deng Bol, Executive Director of Intrepid South Sudan (ISS), will put an end to the region’s massacres.

Plead for peace

“On behalf of civil society organizations in Jonglei State, I want to take this opportunity to call upon Chief Justice Reech Chan to equally open a GBV and Juvenile Court in Bor, Jonglei State to aid in combating this vice.”

“Human Rights are no longer foreign to the country since it became a member of the United Nations following its independence in 2011.”However, violations and abuses of human rights have unfortunately largely remained unabated with alarming impunity,” Bol stressed.