Women in the capital of Western Equatoria State have held a workshop to share skills to disseminate messages on the implementation of the peace agreement signed in August.

The meeting opened by the state governor drew 100 participants including representatives from the government, the civil society organizations and women from the grassroots.

Speaking about the event to the UN radio, the State Minister of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, Margaret Fozia Emmanuel, stressed the importance of involving women in the peace process.

“The purpose of this workshop is talking about taking peace to the people and the importance is that the peace agreement has already been signed so it is our role as women of Western Equatoria and South Sudan as a whole to embrace this peace and to take the peace to the villages, to homes, to the streets, to the people in the market place, everywhere we go we take the peace messages,” she said.

The workshop was organized in collaboration with the National Ministry of Gender and the Women Peace Network and UNDP. Margaret said the women participating were from “all walks of life.”

Also in Yambio, the newly elected speaker of the Western Equatoria State Legislative Assembly has called on the communities to embrace peace. Paul Tambua was elected earlier this week unopposed.

He said the assembly’s agenda will include tackling insecurity and implementing the peace agreement. He called on the communities in the state to renounce violence.

“We members of this state legislative assembly; we are not happy with what is happening. So we are appealing to our communities wherever they are that please we need to be in peace. We need stop violence and people are to come back to their own places, to their own country, to their towns and live peacefully and continue their economic activities as before,” he said.