The people of Warrap State on Saturday commemorated International Peace Day with a strong call to end communal violence within the state and with its neighbors.
The International Day of Peace (“Peace Day”) is observed around the world each year on 21 September. Established in 1981 by a unanimous United Nations resolution, Peace Day provides a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace.
The celebrations were held under the theme “Nurturing a culture of peace: our collective responsibility” and organized by the state ministry of peacebuilding with financial support from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and other international and national peace actors.
Warrap State Deputy Governor Aluel Garang Garang said her government considers this year one of peace yet some parts of the state still grapple with cattle raids and revenge killings.
“I congratulate the people of Warrap for attaining peace. As the government, we have been calling for a peaceful Warrap although some counties experience communal conflicts and violence,” she stated. “The culture of peace is our collective responsibility, so, let us support peace for development and progress as citizens and as peace actors.”
Garang thanked the development and peace partners for the financial support toward celebrating the peace day.
For his part, Mario Ajak Akuei, the speaker of the state parliament, cautioned citizens against taking advice from neighbors regarding peace in the country, saying some people do not want a peaceful South Sudan.
“For us to have peace in our country, let us consider our identity as South Sudanese because some of our neighbors and partners do not even want us to be in peace with others and among ourselves and incite communities to fight each other,” he said.
Ajak advised the youth to avoid messages that cause violence and take propagate good messages of peace. He appealed to the government of South Sudan to carry out forceful disarmament of illegal firearms.
Meanwhile, Adewuyi Adewuni, the representative of UNMISS’s head of field office in Warrap State, said peace is all about good governance, harmony, and unity of the people and reiterated the call to the people to end communal conflicts.
“I congratulate the people of South Sudan because since the revitalized peace agreement was signed, there has been no open conflict among signatories to the agreement. This is why I wanted to score the message sent today by the country head of UNMISS that the resilience of our people made them not to go back to war,” he said. “Peace is not the absence of conflict alone but is all about good governance, good living conditions of people, harmony and good relationship with different neighbors. We have wars, flooding all over the world but our Warrap has unique issues of inter and intra-communal conflict.”
For her part, Victoria Aledi, who represented non-governmental organizations, said peace is about justice and providing social services to civil populations without discrimination and prejudice.
“Peace is not about the absence of war, instead, it is the state of being in peace, harmony and state of understanding each other and solving issues amicably and state of giving justice where it is due,” she stressed. “When we listen to the radio and watch television, all the news bulletins are about war, conflict, violence, cattle thefts, hunger and flooding, discrimination prejudices and this is not what we want our Warrap state to be.”
“Peace thrives when everyone contributes to sustainable peace and cohesion and it thrives when the rights of women, youth, and people with disabilities are respected,” Aledi added.