CEPO to launch peace camp in South Sudan against escalating communal violence

JUBA – The Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) Edmund Yakani has said that his organization is launching peace camp against increasingly escalating inter-communal violence that has killed thousands since independence and has only witnessed escalation in recent years despite downtrend in political violence.

The call by the CEPO comes just hours after communal violence erupted in Nimule, Eastern Equatoria state, in which a group of armed youth attacked a local community meeting killing a prominent community chief and four others while wounding an unknown number of people including the Nimule police inspector.

Speaking to Sudans Post in an exclusive interview in South Sudan’s capital Juba on Monday night, Yakani said they plans a nation-wide peace camp to protest the escalating inter-communal violence which is always deadly and has killed over 360 people in less than a month.

“With the recent increase in deaths caused by armed inter-community violence across the country, CEPO has decided to launch a ‘National Peace Camp for Prevention of Deadly Armed Communal Violence.’ This initiative was triggered by the loss of over 360 human lives and high loss of properties worth to over $500,000 in less than a month in 2022, according CEPO early warning system,” Yakani said.

“The peace camp activities will be focusing on prevention of violence, non-violence and writing of history on our deadly communal violence and building of peace ambassadors across the country. The initiative will further localize UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and UNSCR 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security,” he added.

The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 acknowledged the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and girls, while resolution 2250 is a thematic resolution that deals with the topic of youth from an international peace and security perspective.

Yakani said that the number of deadly inter-communal incidents which has taken place is enough and therefore there is need for strategic intervention and that his organization’s initiative will present better options on how to curtail communal violence.

“The ongoing deadly communal violence among our communities is enough and therefore requires strategic intervention. The initiative will try to offer options for better prevention of deadly communal violence,” Yakani said.

He said “CEPO in 2020 attempted to localize the UNSCR 2250 through initiation of Youth Peace Ambassador for 2250, but the implications of the COVID-19 could not allow us to progress with the initiative effectively. Under this new national peace camp we hope to succeed effectively in driving UNSCR 2250.”

Yakani further appealed to “the communities to stop this culture of waging deadly inter-communal violence across the country.”

Peace camp is a form of physical protest camp that is usually focused on anti-war activities be it communal or political. It is set up outside military bases by members of an anti-war group opposing the existence of military bases themselves, the armaments held there, or the politics of those who control the bases.