Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Juba (Agenzia Fides) - "We hope this is a first concrete and decisive step for the cease-fire first and then for true peace", says to Fides Agency Sister Elena Baratti, a Comboni missionary from Juba, capital of South Sudan, commenting the agreement reached yesterday, October 20, in Arusha (Tanzania) to resolve the civil war that since December 15, 2013 has devastated the Country.
According to a report in the "Herald Sudan", what was signed yesterday is an agreement within the SPLM (Sudan People's Liberation Movement), the government party, divided between the wing loyal to President Salva Kiir and the rebel wing led by former Vice President Riek Machar, whose conflicts have triggered the civil war.
"The two sides recognize their collective responsibility in the crisis of South Sudan that has caused the death of a large number of people and caused considerable material damage", says the text of the agreement. "A divided SPLM automatically means fragmenting the Country on ethnic and regional basis" continues the text, hoping for "a frank and honest dialogue that puts the interest of the people and the nation above everything".
"It is a first acknowledgment of responsibility by the two protagonists of the crisis, mediated by Tanzania, which has engaged in a process of 'negotiations' parallel to the peace mediation carried out by IGAD" explains the Comboni missionary to Fides, referring to the Intergovernmental Authority for Development, the organization that brings together the Countries of the Horn of Africa (including South Sudan) that is mediating to resolve the conflict in the Country.
"The peace agreement itself probably will be signed within IGAD" adds Sister Helen. "If this agreement had been signed, we would have exploded with joy in the streets of Juba, because people continue to suffer because of the war. However, yesterday’s signing gives us new hope", concludes the missionary. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 21/10/2014)
