August 19th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – The United Nations Secretary-General Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan Nicolas Haysom said on Friday that the South Sudan peace process has been turned into a marketplace.
The UN diplomat was talking in an interview with the PSC when he doubted the commitment if the South Sudan leaders in achieving peace in the world’s youngest nation.
“One issue which has made me think about this question is that some actors have approached the negotiation of this peace deal as an issue of ordinary marketplace bargaining, in which the strength of the parties should be imprinted in the final product,” he said.
He criticized the government for ignoring the power of the opposition saying that is not the aim of reaching out to all the South Sudanese citizens for the sack of achieving a durable peace in the young African country.
“Some people, especially from the government, ask, ‘Why should we give away power to weaker parties who do not possess demonstrable power on the battle field?’ – but that is not approaching it the right way,” he said.
He said there is need for South Sudan government to reach out to all the elements of the society and to make the mostly needed compromise and sacrifices which he said would shape and make the agreement work well.
“What is required from South Sudan now is to reach out to all elements of society and to make the necessary compromises and sacrifices which would make the agreement work,” he said.
He criticized the South Sudan leaders for being entrepreneurs instate of patriots.
“It is not a question of saying, ‘What is my entitlement? What is my proper share?’, but a question of what will make it work. In other words, we are looking to South Sudanese to behave as patriots, not entrepreneurs,” he further said.
