Gawaar Global Press Statement on Escalation of the Conflict in South Sudan

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April 04, 2025 (Nyamilepedia) — For the last six years, South Sudan has been struggling to implement the Revitalized Agreement of the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCISS) that was signed by the warring parties on September 12, 2018, to end the 2013-2018 civil war. Despite the lack of political will and several other challenges impeding the implementation of the peace agreement, there has been relative peace and stability across the country but now that the country is yet again returning to its old path of deadly civil wars, massacres and genocides, the Gawaar Global Community, do hereby issue the following statement:

On the harassment and intimidation of the opposition leaders

• We strongly condemn the detention of the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon, SPLA-IO Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabriel Duop Lam, Minister of Petroleum, Hon. Puot Kang Chuol and other senior leaders and generals of the SPLM/A-IO who are detained in Juba and Rumbek, Lake States.
• Calls for immediate release of Dr. Riek Machar Teny and his senior comrades who are arrested in Juba, Rumbek and any other location in South Sudan.

 To President Salva Kiir and Dr. Machar

• Calls on President Salva Kiir to terminate the contract(s) that hired the Ugandan People Defense Force (UPDF) and any other foreign mercenaries in the country and order them to leave the country forthwith.
• Calls on President Salva Kiir and the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, to prioritize the best interest of the South Sudanese people and the country at large.
• Further call on President Salva Kiir and the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, to return to the peace table to dialogue on how to end the ongoing conflict before the situation escalades into massacres and genocides.
• Reiterates the importance of maintaining peace and security, and once again remind the leaders to implement the peace agreement in letter and spirit.
• Underscores the importance of the deployment of the Unified Forces to avoid further escalation of dogfights in cantonment sites and across the country.

Condemnations for senseless war and its escalation

• Strongly condemn the use of military, mercenaries and militias to gain territories at the expense of innocent lives and destruction of their properties.
• Further condemn the bombardments of innocent Nuer civilians and their properties by the South Sudan People Defense Force (SSPDF) and Ugandan People Defense Force (UPDF)
• Overwhelmingly condemn all forms of military oppression, aggression or suppression, and retaliatory revenge attacks that are spontaneously escalating across the country.
• Strongly condemn the use of the highly flammable and explosive ethyl acetate chemical that burns down innocent civilians and their properties in what appears to be a scorched-earth policy which constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity.
• Deplores in the strongest terms possible the culture of hiring foreign mercenaries and their deployment to exterminate a tribe(s), community(ies) or any cultural group(s) in attempt to protect the best interest of the president, his/her leadership and/or tribe(s).
• Condemns the use of scorched earth polices and war crimes “to reach a neighboring community a lesson they will never forget”. Whether on offensive or in retaliation, youth must practice restrain not be lured into endless massacres and genocides.

To Youth fighting on both sides

• Urges the youth and militias, who are fighting on the two divides of the conflict, to stop fighting and killing each other. Youth are not their own enemies. Unite and demand change in the leadership of the country so that you can all prosper and live a better life.
• Calls on youth to mitigate the conflict and when all other options fail, we plead to the youth to spare the lives of innocent civilians who are caught up in the conflict and the prisoners of war once they surrender.
• Calls on youth on both sides to remain vigilant not to commit crimes that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

To the IGAD, AU and the International Community

• We acknowledge, commend and appreciate the efforts demonstrated by the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, the Kenyan president, Rt. Hon. William Ruto, and all the members of the international community who are condemning the deterioration of peace and call on South Sudan leaders to restore peace and stability.
• Calls on two main guarantors (Sudan and Ethiopia), RJMEC, UN Security Council, TROIKA, AU and other international actors to intervene in words and actions like they did recently in Ukraine.
• Calls on the UNSC, AU, IGAD and TROIKA to sanction Uganda and the family of president Yoweri Museveni for their interference in the internal affairs of South Sudan, DRC,
• Acknowledge the efforts of the former Kenyan Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga, the Kenyan Special Envoy to South Sudan, and the African Union Panel of the Wise for taking bold decisions to persuade South Sudan leaders to implement the peace agreement.
• Decides to remain seized of the matters.

Sincerely,

CC:

• African Union (AU)
• Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)
• Revitalized Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC)
• European Union (EU)
• TROIKA – U.S, U.K and Norway
• UN Security Council (UNSC)
• UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)
• AU Panel of the Wise
• Office of South Sudan President
• Office of South Sudan First Vice President
• Office of the Kenyan Special Envoy to South Sudan