They came to Freedom Hall in Juba in their numbers filled with hopes and ready to bury their disturbing and anguishing past that has condemned them to perennial violence and instability.

May 26, 2021, will never be erased on the minds of more than 1,000 Sudanese people, comprising women, youth and the elderly from Nuba Mountains in Kordo-fan- a region that has witnessed violence since 2011.

They queued at the entry of the hall decorating the atmosphere with songs of freedom. Here, they danced their hearts out waiting to witness the opening ceremony on the resumption of the peace talks, between the Transitional Government of the Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement -North under the auspices of the South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

In this group of people was Majdy Ali, a 32-year-old student at Juba University, who hails from the Nuba Mountains and has been quite eager for a lasting peace.

Ali told City Review that he came to South Sudan in 2013 and stayed in Yida refugee camp and managed to acquire education up to senior four.

Permanent solution needed

He currently pursues a degree in finance and accounting but his heart beats for his roots.  Ali says that what he wants is a permanent peace- not plastic pen to paper often breached by sounds of guns later on.

“We are tired of living in the refugee camps where there are no services. We want to go back home because some of us have not seen our partners since 2013. We are tired of such kind of life. We urge our leaders to really sign the kind of peace that can hold.”

“There is no benefit of being in war, but if these leaders are not willing to give us peace what do we do? Why do they cheat us?’’ He questioned

Top of his concerns is the freedom of worship that he holds so dear.

“I should be treated like any other person where I am allowed to have freedom of worship, for me to have the religion.  That is one of the many reasons why some of us have been fighting.”

Having borne the brunt of war and discrimination, Ali’s voice was soaked in in sadness and he chocked of anger as he remembered wars that flushed them out of what they called home.

He said: “The life we have been living in is very miserable that is why we had to carry arms against the Sudan government because there no equal development.

“They should treat as like we are all Sudanese; they should construct roads all over Sudan, Schools, hospital in the whole country.”

Head of the ruling Sovereign Council of Sudan Gen Abdel-Fattah Burhan, said there was need to finish the peace process in order for the Sudanese people to have a lasting peace.

“We want to make Sudan for all its citizens regardless of their religions and identity,” Burhan said.

Burhan also agreed to have the peace talks with an open heart and for the people to accept peace.

Prime Minister of Sudan Dr. Abdel Hamdok stated that the Sudanese people have to learn to coexist especially during this period adding that the aim of the peace talks were to put an end to conflict in the country

Hamdok said: “We are here to carry messages of peace and to dialogue in order to get permanent freedom, peace, justice and the wellbeing of the Sudanese people. [It] is a collective responsibility between the two parties.

 “[Let’s say] enough of violence against the people in Darfur, Kordofar and the Blue Nile…’’

The parties signed a declaration of principles in March with the government agreeing to separate religion and state.