People from Busalia County in South Sudan’s proposed Wau State on Monday called on the state government to negotiate with the rebels to know their demands and reach a peace agreement with them in order to bring stability in the area.

On Sunday representatives from Busalia met with the Commissioner Pasquale Joseph in the state secretariat office in Wau.

Lillian Rizig, the former minister of Finance in Western Bahr el Ghazal and a native of Busalia, said their meeting with the commissioner was to encourage the government to open channels for negotiation with those who took arms in order to reach a peace like the peace agreement signed in Western Equatoria between the state government and an armed group.

“We encourage the government to open channels of communication with the rebels in order to know what their demands are, and take example of what the authorities in Western Equatoria where they reached a peace deal and ceasefire with the arm groups,” said Rizig.

She added that thousands of people from the area have been displaced due to the war and most of them are in the bushes amid dire condition. “There are over 11,000 displaced people in some are in Raja and others are still in the Bushes. There are suffering from hunger and have no food, no water,” she added.

Rizig pointed out that humanitarian organization could not manage to reach the displaced people and provide them with food due to the security situation in the area.