Authorities in South Sudan’s Kapeota State and 17 high ranking armed opposition faction (SPLA-IO) officials held a confidence building rally on Wednesday with calls for peace.
The opposition governor, Gen. Marko Lokidor led the SPLA-IO team.
Joseph Kabaka, the state information minister, told Radio Tamazuj that the rally was one way of building confidence and trust between the warring factions.
He said, as a signatory to last year’s revitalized peace agreement, presence of the SPLA-IO in the area was a sign of peace in the state.
“Actually, we are trying to build confidence with IO because those who came here from Juba they are 17 and they are sons and daughters of this Kapoeta state. We would like to introduce them to their people, their parents and their relatives. We also want to talk to students so that they listen from them since they are already here and we are for the agreement,” he said.
He added, “We are saying they should be here because they are part of the revitalized peace agreement signed in Addis Ababa on September 12, 2018. They are welcome to build the nation with us”.
Kabaka said a peace rally with the armed opposition group has allowed free movements in the state.
He said government would work with the opposition to build confidence among the bigger population on the peace process.
“We don’t want anything to happen again, we want to see that peace is presented by the people themselves. Let them own this peace so that we realize peace in the whole country,” said Kabaka.
In September last year, South Sudan’s arch-foes signed a revitalized peace agreement to end the country’s civil war that killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.
The peace deal calls for a functional unity government by May.