By Noah Issa Philip
Opinion
March 21st 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan is a country that came into existence after many years of struggle in which over 2 millions people were killed and yet their struggle for ever lasting peace continues until 9th January 2005. In January 2011, South Sudanese voted for secession from north and subsequently it led to independence of South from North.
South Sudanese in diaspora and those within South Sudan expressed their gratitude to the government of South Sudan with the hope that decades of chaos and brutal killings were over. But to the surprise of South Sudanese just 3 years after independence the country had enrolled itself to civil war which claimed thousands of lives and others displaced to neighboring countries. (2013)
South Sudan president’s visit to Greater Bahr El Ghazal Region was the first peace tour since the war broke out in December 2013. The President used the road transport starting from Terekeka State and ending in Lol State, preaching the peace messages to the citizens from the states he visited in the past few weeks ago. But was the president’s visit enough for the south Sudanese to get the peace messages and ready to reconcile?
The answer to this question either be yes or no, because of the fact that people of South Sudan have suffered and tired of the senseless war which claimed thousands lives and displaced hundreds to the neighboring countries. During the president’s visit to Greater Bahr el Ghazal region, he was used welcomed with open hand and he had felt the warm reception from different communities throughout his way to the last destination in which most of the communities he visited had believed that true peace has come to the country and therefore his peace tour reflected true leadership quality that we south Sudanese had wanted to see.
The whole of South Sudan [the two remaining regions] are more than ready to receive president if he is to visit them the same way he visited the region where he originates from. For the people of South Sudan to show their solidarity, willingness and readiness for the revitalized peace agreement in whole South Sudan, the government of South Sudan should continue with the peace tour that president himself had started some weeks back which has drawn the attention of many communities to believe that the agreement signed is effective and both the government and the oppositions are ready to work with and to reconcile with each other.
In his [president] visit, the president maintained a tone of calm, underscored the spirit of peace, reconciliation and his plan for development. This is the message that we all need to rally in every mole-hill and every valley of our great nation. We must all realize that without peace, development cannot flourish. A Peace Caravan across all regions ahead of the much awaited and hopeful new governance structure would be an imperative initiative. All leaders must seek to support the president’s pledge and focus on dialogue and peace.
We must all learn to live together as brothers and sisters or else we perish together as fools (Luther K. Jnr), and we learned about honesty and integrity, that the truth matters….that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules… and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square (Michelle Obama). By following the president’s peace and dialogue initiative, we South Sudanese could see that revitalized peace Agreement that was signed last year isn’t forced but it is the will of the people of South Sudan who have suffered from both the 1983 civil war and 2013 civil war as well, in which they [people of South Sudan] would like to live in peace and harmony as one people and one nation and the government did it.
Peace message has started with the president and the state governors shall embrace peace in their vicinities so that the people of South Sudan should have all the believes that they have bestowed upon the president of the Republic is restored and respected and the saying goes “’to enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind, how could we control and discipline one’s mindset?
We could only control the mindset of our people through peace and dialogue initiative our president has initiative in 2016. It is noticed that the people of South Sudan are tired of war as one of the great artists of South Sudan once sung the song, therefore let’s all embrace on peace and reconciliation to forgive each other as the president stated in his peace tour in Greater Bahr el Ghazal region.
Lastly gratitude makes sense of our past, bring peace for the people of South Sudan today and create a vision for tomorrow, there is nothing that unites people together and which will make our country to prosper other than peace and reconciliation, enough is enough, time for us to invest on developmental aspects rather than wasting resources on equipping the nation to fight among themselves.
The author is a concerned South Sudanese and can be reached via:Â noahissaphillip@icloud.com
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