The press secretary in the office of the First Vice President has said that Dr. Riek Machar will visit several parts of the country to disseminate the peace agreement and hold prayers for peace after the deployment of the unified forces.
During an interview with Radio Tamazuj, Puok Both Baluang also said the idea of holding prayers at the IDP camp in Juba on Sunday 26 February was inspired by the recent visit of Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Lain Greenshields and the public is welcome to attend.
He also said the peace partners are working on unifying the command of the national army and deploying commanders to the various divisions and units of the SSPDF.
Below are edited excerpts:
Q: Can you tell us more about the prayer called by First Vice President Riek Machar on 26 February?
A: The prayer initiative came during the recent visit of Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Lain Greenshields. During a prayer service in Jebel presided over by Greenshields, the first vice president announced that there will be a prayer with the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Juba on 26 February. There will be other similar programs across the country in the coming months for the same purpose.
I think after the graduation of the first batch of the unified forces, there is a need to show our people that there is peace and security in the country. And the first vice president would like to assure the people that they should not fear as they gather to participate in such events. This is part of the commitment of the SPLM-IO and the transitional government to ensure that the agreement is fully implemented.
Q: You mentioned something about peace and reconciliation, how is that going to work?
A: The church has been playing a great role in the reconciliation among different communities in South Sudan. This is in addition to other religious leaders from the Muslim community. They have been so helpful to ensure that communities live in peace. These are some of the channels that unite people. And through the heavenly messages of peace, they still have a great role to play in this regard.
As I mentioned earlier, this prayer initiative will not end here in Juba. It will continue across the country and even non-Christians will be involved in this process. They need to know how the peace implementation process is going on and how the new political road map that extends the period is doing. At the end of the day, this agreement is meant for South Sudanese, not only for politicians who are currently holding public offices. They were only appointed in their respective positions to implement the peace agreement and provide citizens with basic services which is the basis of any government all over the World.
Q: We have observed that Dr. Machar has not been allowed to travel outside Juba and his movements seem to be restricted. How will he then travel to attend prayer all over the country?
A: As the SPLM-IO, we wanted to take the opportunity of the visit of the pope to make use of the messages that they left with us. We want to take practical steps toward reaching out to our people and ensure the completion of the remainder of the implementation. We have now entered the extended transition period and there is a need for us to begin a serious commitment to implement the remaining provisions of the agreement within the next two years. That is why it is important now for us to disseminate the agreement.
After the graduation of the unified forces and their deployment, there will be a lot of movements and visits to many parts of the county to preach about the peace agreement. Such visits will bring hope to our citizens that the war is over and that we are moving forward with the implementation of the peace agreement.
The peace agreement is supposed to open more political freedoms in the country and one of the gestures is the recent abolition of the powers of national security to arrest without warrants.
They (Kiir and Machar) have agreed to remove this paragraph and soon the two principles will be signing the document into law. This will play a role in releasing some space of freedom for South Sudanese citizens. This is a good gesture and we expect the law enforcement agencies, such as security and the police to follow this new law and respect it.
These are some of the fruitful results of the pope’s visit and we need to change our attitudes. Some of our signatories in the agreement tended to implement only some provisions over others but we need to properly focus on implementing all the provisions in the agreement as stipulated. The ultimate goal is to have peace in our country.
Q: Do you see this as an opportunity for Machar to move around the states and even outside the country?
A: Plans to visit the states exist in the office of the first vice president but we are waiting for the deployment of the unified forces in the different states. And I would like to announce to all South Sudanese citizens and all our friends that the prayer is just the beginning of our tour of the state and we shall ensure that we reach everywhere. We need to move around to restore the social fabric and be close to the people and know their needs and issues. The first vice president has a social, political, and moral obligation to know the issues that affect the people of South Sudan. This is part of his responsibility apart from conducting meetings with different parties to the agreement.
Q: When do you expect the unified forces will be deployed?
A: They have already graduated and we are only left with their deployment. The high committee is working at the moment to identify and distribute different military ranks among the parties. Up to this moment, they have not yet agreed on the number of officers that will be joining the military high command. Only a few have been appointed but the rest are yet to be appointed in different sectors of the organized forces.
Each party is expected to propose their representative to be part of the high command as stipulated in the security arrangements in the peace agreement. These names will be sent to the office of the president before the announcement. This process will be followed by training the second and third batches of the unified forces.
Q: There have been allegations that the SPLM/A-IO and SSOA are delaying the deployment of the unified forces. What is your comment on this?
A: This is not true. Our list is ready but what we are waiting for is an agreement on the percentage of ranks of the different organized forces. We cannot send the list of our representatives and yet we have not agreed on a particular percentage. We do know yet how many of our representatives will be absorbed in each division. We know our commanders best and we know in which departments they can offer their services.
So, our list is ready and we are only waiting for an agreement among the parties and we will provide the list according to the respective percentages. As the SPLM-IO, our list is ready and we are always ahead of time. If you look at the current reforms taking place in different sectors, they are our ideas and we suggested them during the peace negotiations.
Q: Do you have any last word?
A: My last word to the people of South Sudan is that they need to know that we have begun the extended period of the peace implementation and we are committed to completing the remaining parts of the peace agreement that are yet to be implemented.
There have been rumors circulating that there is a plan to reshuffle or reduce the number of portfolios in the government. I would like to assure our people that there is no such plan. We have not extended the period to increase or reduce the government but we want to finish the remainder of the agreement before we go for elections. There is a need to prepare our people for this democratic practice so our people can have an opportunity to elect their leaders but before that, we need to fully implement the provisions that will allow the election to take place. For example, we need to ensure that the security arrangements are fulfilled and people should have the right to freedom of expression without fear. Every South Sudanese citizen should be free to express his or her opinion without fear of being harassed or detained.
There is also a need to conduct a national census by international law. We should also allow the displaced persons to return to their original places.
Before the election, we should have passed an electoral law and the formation of an electoral commission based on a permanent constitution.
These are examples of basic conditions before conducting any election in the country. And the extension of the two years is meant for completing these unimplemented issues.
Therefore, I would like to reiterate the commitment of the SPLM-IO to fully implement the remaining provisions within the extended period and we believe that implementing this agreement is the only way to bring lasting peace and stability to South Sudan.