South Sudan president calls for dialogue to end war

By Parach Mach

JUBA, South Sudan

President Salva Kiir on Wednesday called on all political forces and pockets of militias fighting his government in South Sudan to lay down arms and participate in a national dialogue to settle all issues.

Addressing the newly-established Transitional National Legislative Assembly, Kiir said his national dialogue required the participation of all South Sudanese people in order to fully restore peace and tranquility in the war-torn country.

“As a measure to consolidate peace in our country and to bring our people together, I am initiating the process of national dialogue,” he said.

“Dialogue has been a hallmark of our liberation struggle, we had always used dialogue as a mechanism to manage our differences and recommit ourselves to our unity of purpose and resolve to set our people free,” he added.

He urged the armed opposition and militias to cease all hostilities and join the dialogue, promising punitive measures against opposition and various militias fighting his government if they failed to join the process.

“My government will take serious measures against those found to be broadcasting ethnic hatred and refused to renounce violence and join peaceful dialogue,” Kiir warned.

He also asked for forgiveness for any mistake he committed, including the atrocities committed against civilians by forces loyal to him.

“I call upon the international community, in the spirit of national dialogue to cease any negative propaganda, including report of alleged genocide,” he added.

Meanwhile, the main opposition leader of the Democratic Change party, Onyoti Adigo Nyikwach, welcomed the president’s call for national dialogue call, saying it would open a new page in the peace process.

Nyikwach described the dialogue, as a positive step for the real implementation of the “Agreement of the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan,” which was signed in August 2015.

However, Dr. Alic Garang, a research fellow at the Juba- based Ebony Center for Strategy Studies, said it was regrettable that the focus of the government appeared to be on, “insecurity” and “crushing the opposition”, which refuses to join national dialogue rather than on uplifting the condition of their constituents through a viable economic recovery.

“As long as inflation stands at 827 percent, citizens [are] going hungry, then the proposed national dialogue will not address the current turbulence facing the country,” Garang told Anadolu Agency.

He said he expected the government to review its approach to economic issues.

“It is unfortunate, the president’s speech at the parliament ignored the sorry state of economy…the country’s economy is in tatters…The government needs to rethink and look at that fiscal policy and replace it with one that is viable,” he added.

He cited a lack of policy consistency and predictability on the side of the government as causes of the economic woes and poor performance of the local currency.

South Sudan slid into civil war in December 2013, just two years after gaining independence from Sudan. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead in the past three years and displaced more than 2.4 million from their homes. The World Food Programme said in November that 4 million people are experiencing severe food shortages and at least 260,000 people in the capital, Juba, face starvation.