South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny have been asked to start and spearhead the process for healing and reconciliation in order to restore peace and stability in the country.
Farouk Gatkouth Kam, chief whip of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) said in the national legislative assembly on Wednesday, that the two leaders need to work hand- in- hand in reconciling their people in order for peace to prevail in the country.
“I think peace is not necessarily the silence of the guns and the cries of the war, peace is necessarily that it should be the strong ground for reconciliation, peace and other aspects of everything,” Gatkuoth said during plenary on the discussion on the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing Bill 2023 and Compensation and Reparation Authority Bill 2023 .
For his part, Peter Lomude Francis, a member of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) representing Yei River County, said the element of accountability should be upheld in order to realize genuine healing and reconciliation among people.
“It’s important that people should forgive, but there are certain crimes that are beyond forgiveness. So some people have to be held accountable for some of their actions,” Lomude said.
Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, the First Deputy Speaker of the national legislative assembly, said that political leaders have the primary responsibility to unite and stabilize the country in order to put it on a democratic and prosperous path.
“Without peace, this country will never move forward. Nobody will even rule it without peace and the basis for peace is truth, reconciliation and healing,” Oyet said.
Chapter five of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement, calls for healing and reconciliation, and establishment of a hybrid court to try war crimes committed during years of conflict since outbreak in December 2013.
