Ethnic violence, abuses continue to escalate in South Sudan despite peace deal – cleric

JUBA – Ethnic violence increasing cases of sexual violence, revenge killing, land grabbing, and child abduction have continued to escalate in the South Sudan despite the signing of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement, a man of God has said.

Dr. Isaiah Majok Dau, General Overseer of Sudan Pentecostal Church told reporters during a press conference in Juba on Thursday that South Sudanese civilians are caught in a perfect storm of ongoing suffering and misery.

“As we mark 10 years of our independence today with pain in our hearts, there is little to celebrate. It is truly a difficult time and experience for us, the people of South Sudan, our hearts continue to grow with pain, anguish turmoil, despair, and misery as lives are lost every day in every corner of our country,” Majok told reporters at a press conference held in South Sudan Council of Churches on Thursday.

“The conflict has become a context in which we are involving with rampant proxy inter-communal violence, increasing cases of sexual violence, revenge killing, land grabbing, and child abduction,” Majok added.

Majok said millions of South Sudanese who were supposed to celebrate the 10th year of independence has been made homeless and forced to depend on humanitarian aids for survivors.

“On this day 10 years ago, we expected a new ray of hopes, optimism, and range of sustainable peace and prosperity, however, those jubilations and celebrations were short-live as the nation in just a span of two years descended into violent the conflict that has devastated all of the south Sudanese lives,” he said.

He disclosed that perpetrators of armed conflicts have not only destabilized peace but also retard the socio-economic development of the African’s youngest nation.

“This conflict has rendered our first 10 years of independence a wasted decade; we are at a standstill in many ways. This revitalized peace agreement signed in 2018 was a most viable framework for peace and a beacon of hope for South Sudanese,” he said.

He said that slow implementation of the peace deal is very worrying and shattering all hopes to restore stability in the country.

“We must stop the self-sabotage of our collective future and prosperity.  We must reflect on what went wrong in the first decade after independence, learn from those experiences, and rise to the collective responsibility of this generation to deliver our country from its current predicament, never again shall our people be merciless victims of our own hands,” he said.