South Sudanese Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul yesterday questioned whether the South Sudanese government could achieve victory through war, saying that the warring sides should seek to compromise and not try to defeat one another on the battlefield.

"The position of the church has been clear from the start of this conflict. We stated clear that there war never be a solution to political differences. We stated this war is senseless and those affected are the innocent people,” said Deng.

“And any one of the warring parties hoping to win on the battlefield is not realistic. Our contemporary history has proven that even the weakest of the rebellions have never been resolved by war. The differences have always been resolved through peaceful dialogue and reaching some compromises and agreement, and not by way of defeat.”

The bishop continued, “It is painful that we do not wish to learn from our own history. After all these killings of innocent lives and destruction of livelihood and meager infrastructure, we end up sitting down to reach some sort of agreement.”

“We have witnessed how some of these towns have changed hands, and the destruction this has brought each time this happens. How many more times do we want this to recur?”