A three-day civil-military dialogue kicked off on Wednesday in Lainya County of Central Equatoria State to promote stability and boost social cohesion among the politically divided communities and returnees.
The reconciliatory community-level dialogue brought together over 50 people including chiefs, civil society, members of the organized forces, religious leaders, and eminent personalities to discuss ways of rebuilding the fractured social cohesion and restoring trust between the civilians and the army.
The project manager of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) in Lainya County, Malish John Scopas, said the dialogue is the reflection of the implementation of the revitalized agreement.
“This is a program in the revitalized peace agreement where there is a component of sustainable peace, voluntary, reintegration, resettlement, and rehabilitation of returnees and internally displaced persons in the country,” he said. “So, we are complementing the process of peacebuilding and our contribution with the county commissioner here is in line with the articles of the peace agreement.”
For his part, Col. John Malou, the deputy commander of the SSPDF’s ground forces in Lainya County, urged the soldiers to respect and protect the civilians to promote peace and stability in the area.
“To you as soldiers, in the whole world, a civilian is bigger than a soldier. We have wives and children out there, if someone touches or beats them, will you be happy?” he asked. “So, I want to say that you soldiers must always protect civilians so that they do not fear you and rebel against you as soldiers.”
Meanwhile, Lainya County Commissioner Emmanuel Khemis Richard said the local chiefs are the main actors in maintaining peace and unity among civilians and soldiers.
“As chiefs you can choose a day and visit the army barracks and create channels of communication with the army so that if a civilian is arrested you can be notified,” he said. “Chiefs should always lead by example. The cooperation between the civilians and the soldiers comes from the chiefs as main actors.”
Commissioner Khemis further urged the army to allow the free movement of civilians to encourage refugees and internally displaced people to return home.
“Each and everyone has a role to play and one of the things that can boost the return of the population is free movement,” he said. “There are people using bikes along the road, let them move. This is an order from today, let there be free movement along the roads, and do not frighten people.”
The meeting under the theme “Locally driven solutions for social cohesion and promoting early recovery in the country’s former breadbasket” was organized by CEPO in collaboration with Finn Church Aid (FCA), Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, UNMISS, and IOM among others.