Stop Revenge, Let's Have Peace: President Kiir The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) Youth League held a mass mobilization campaign under theme "one nation, one people" in Juba on Saturday. 16 February 2014
By Gabriel Mayom *RUMBEK, February 16, 2014 (Gurtong) -* The aim of the campaign was to reconcile the country since political unrest began in the middle of December last year. The rally held at Freedom Hall was attended by thousands of people residing in Juba, Central Equatoria state with a call for peace and reconciliations nationwide. South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit for the first time since the start of the conflict publicly called for peace and forgiveness. He described his former deputy Riek Machar Teny who turned a rebel after December 15, 2013 as an immediate "enemy for peace and progress of South Sudan." Kiir recalled Riek Machar's rebellion in 1991 to 1994 which he said was another seatback to SPLM/A. President Kiir told the gathering : "This country needs peace - this country needs development. This country needs widows and orphans to recover from war trauma. This country needs education," Kiir said. "There will be reconciliation and forgiveness. The forgiveness will not be today but it must happen to have a peaceful country instead of becoming a warlord country." His appeal for youth across South Sudan is to disengage from supporting personal interest and to have faith in the future and building of South Sudan. He appealed for trust, patriotism and a fight against tribalism, saying the youth should promote country's image. "My brother Riek Machar has hurt the people of South Sudan to become a rebel leader again in the new nation. He assumes to be a democratic man but he does not apply democracy," he bemoaned. "It is now great shame worldwide that the newest nation South Sudan has an insurgence. We are shamed and we must work for peace," Kiir said to a round of applouse. The president denied rumours of targeting Nuer residing in Juba and he called upon South Sudanese youth to avoid revenge cycle. He appealed to Lakes state, Western Bahr-El-Ghazal, Northern Bahr-El-Ghazal and Warrap state to maintain and peacefully host Nuer people who have been displaced by the current wave of conflict in Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei states. During Kiir's statement, people broke into tears. Thousands of Nuer natives are residing in UNMISS bases since the "coup attempt" on December 15. The president called for those Nuer native inside UNMISS to return to their houses as he assured them of a peaceful atmosphere. He urged the organize forces to perform their duty of civilians' protection. "There is no danger now - all those people residing inside UNMISS bases should return to their residences- I need all youth to disengage from retaliation and stay as colleagues and under one nation as one people," the president appealed. "Always preach peace and hope to youth - delivering wrong information can cause panic within the community." Posted in: Home<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/1/Home.aspx> , Governance<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/6/Governance.aspx> , Featured Stories<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/137/Featured-Stories.aspx> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14ookTOJ7sJ_gZ%3D6GVEwuGNLpb--O6PkWM4W4ow3QKp%2B5YQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
