An African Union Special Envoy on youth affairs has slammed the South Sudan government for creating an environment that disenfranchises the youth of their ability to journey through entrepreneurial development.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the National Dialogue Conference on 3rd November, Aya Chebbi said the government has no excuses to blame the youth in the country because it is the architect of their miserable circumstance.
Chebbi said in times when the South Sudanese need to be empowered, authorities were more concerned about financial self-aggrandizement.
The United Nations Population Fund estimates the total population of the youth in the country at 72%. Majority of these are either illiterate, or in possession of academic qualifications without a jobs.
“The loss of this generation is your responsibility because young South Sudanese don’t produce, sell or buy guns,” Chebbi thundered.
She added that lack of youth empowerment and creation of job opportunities has left many youths idle, giving room for them to indulge in communal violence, robbery, and other unproductive activities in their communities.
“They go into violence because of the state of idleness they live in. Young people will not forgive if you don’t all stand behind them and take this opportunity of the national dialogue and make things right,” Chebbi fumed.
The Envoy said young people in South Sudan were suffering during the conflict; almost ten years after independence, that has not changed, and the coronavirus worsened the scale of their misery.
“Let me be honest. Young people are suffering, they are carrying a lot of pain and they need a lot of healing and that healing can come from transitioning into more trust building with them.
“COVID-19 has deepened the suffering. The youths are saying, it is shame for me to die of hunger or violence or die of coronavirus because I do not enjoy basic human rights as a young person,”.
About half of South Sudan population is under 18 years of age and 72% under the age of 30. The country is considered to be demographically the youngest country in Africa, which makes it a land of massive potentials.
“I met young minds with great ideas but they said, they would stay as far as possible from politics, distrust pushes out young people off leadership, off governments, off political parties, and off negation tables,” Chebbi recalled.
“The youth of this country are asking not for favor, they are asking for legitimate rights, the right to life, the right to freedom, dignity, employment, education, and other rights they deserve as any other young person in our continent,” she added.
Chebbi told delegates that the leaders of South Sudan are accountable for the misery inflicted on the youths, castigating the government-established National Dialogue Steering Committee for excluding young people who are the future of the nation.
“It is the future of the child I met this week in Rumbek who is denied education and making life for herself in the market and risking abuse, teenage marriage, and early pregnancy. You are making decisions for that child right now,” she said.
Chebbi rebuked government officials who are on the record of saying the youths are lazy, disunited, and violence-oriented, challenging them for failing for being role models.
“So what role models are you providing for them? What message are you sending to the youths of this country? What identity are you installing in this generation? Is it that of unity of national dialogue or that of ethnicity and division?
“It is your decision, they look up for leaders who are not there to serve their tribes but to serve all South Sudanese and lead by example,” she stated, attracting a round of applause from youths as senior politicians head-bow.