Extension of transition period dents hopes of returning home for displaced persons

The recent extension of the transition period by the parties to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement has dashed hopes for many internally displaced persons living in Don Bosco camp who had been eager to return to their homes.
IDPs in Don Bosco IDP’s camp on Thursday attended grassroots campaign on civic space and community engagement

By Simon Deng

The recent extension of the transition period by the parties to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement has dashed hopes for many internally displaced persons living in Don Bosco camp who had been eager to return to their homes.

John Uthoabulu Modi, a 26- year- old pastor and advisor for Pari community youth said they are not sure whether the extension of the transition period will not fail like the previous times.

Modi who has lived in the camp following outbreak of conflict in December 2013, said that the key things that they expect the government to do in the remaining period should include population census, repatriation of refugees and the return of IDPs to their areas of origin.

“We need peace because we are suffering from the current economic crisis, our children are not going to school, and the roads are not safer so let the government do something good to the society,” he told The Dawn on Thursday in Juba.

 Modi was speaking during the launch of the grassroots campaign undertaken by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in collaboration with the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) in Central Equatoria State.

The campaign aims to enhance civic space and promote grassroots participation in the peace process.

Salwa Athoo, a mother of 6 children who was displaced from Malakal in 2014, called on the government to address insecurity across the country to provide opportunity to the internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their homes.

“We have become old in this IDP camp, we need to be at home so that we can cultivate but we cannot reach our home villages,” said Athoo.

Inaju Uboyih, the head of community outreach and advocacy unit in the communication and public information section of UNMISS, said they are currently carrying out sensitization within the camp on the status of 2018 revitalized peace agreement.

He said they explain in details to the IDPs on the peace tasks that have been accomplished and the outstanding tasks including the challenges encountered by the parties to the peace agreement.

 “What we are doing is to make sure that people have right information about what is going on, and they are able to make informed decisions, we want to make sure that there is no vacuum,” said Uboyih.

Chris Gitari, senior transitional justice advisor to the RJMEC, said that the transitional unity government needs to fund the peace mechanisms in order to realize the full implementation of the pending tasks within the peace agreement.

 “We are in a situation that needs government to give hope to the people, to show seriousness in implementing the revitalized agreement. People feel that there is need for government to fund peace mechanisms, fund the peace process so that it can trust is regained,” said Gitari.

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