UN envoy tells South Sudan leaders to give chance to free speech

JUBA – The United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General, David Shearer, is urging the leaders in South Sudan to listen to the voices of their people to be able to shape the future of the country.

Shearer who is also the head of the UN mission in the world’s youngest country made this call during the opening ceremony of final meeting of the National Dialogue in Juba on Tuesday.

“Leaders should give those people across the country a chance to have their opinions and their voices heard in order to be able to sharp the future of South Sudan,” he said.

Shearer further appealed to the unity government to allow its people to speak freely on matters affecting the country.

“We should remind ourselves and the politicians that are here today that they should listen to the people because, in a few short years, we will have general elections here and the people will decide who their leaders are going to be for the future,” he stressed.

‘We need to be true to the people who gave their thoughts and their opinions in the National Dialogue to make sure their opinions, feelings and their inspirations goes forward,” he further said.

Shearer explained that the revitalize peace agreement of 2018 is about political parties coming together and agreeing but National Dialogue is a uniting factor that bring together farmers, women, youth and faith based-leaders to discuss challenging facing their lives.