World Leaders Petitioned On South Sudan

Contact Email: keko.naanyoka@hotmail.com

TO:

H.E. Barack H. Obama, President of the United States of America

H.E. David Cameron, Prime Minister of Her Majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain

H.E. Ban Ki Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations

H.E. José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission and head of the (EU)

H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the Republic of China

H.E. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation

H.E. François Gérard Hollande, President of the French Republic

H.E. Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of the Royal Norwegian Government

The Secretariat of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

Son Excellence Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Chairman of the African Union

  Full and Timely Implementation of Peace Agreements

 Date: 2 June, 2014

Your Excellences,

Over many years, the international community—through ignorance and/or attempts to dismiss the need for full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)—has actually reduced the chances for a sustainable peace in South Sudan. We have watched as the people of South Sudan have suffered from violence for decades, and now are subject again to ongoing violence and hardship.  Ultimately this derives primarily from the failure of the international community to secure full implementation of the signed peace agreement. 

We believe the only way to avert renewed humanitarian tragedies is to implement fully the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (2005), and to secure full compliance with the cessation of hostilities agreement of May 9, 2014.  Ignoring the full implementation of CPA threatens the safety of both South Sudanese and marginalized citizens of Sudan, forcing people in a range of ways, particularly in the border areas. Examples of these dangers include the assassination of Abyei leader Koul Deng Kuol and the Bentiu massacre, in which thousands of South Sudanese, as well as Darfuri refugees, were murdered. We therefore call upon the international community to stand strongly with the people of South Sudan and play a positive role in securing full implementation of a comprehensive peace agreement for all parts of the two Sudans.

For our part, as people of South Sudan, we want peace and fully support the cessation of hostilities agreement signed on May 9, 2014; and we urge that relief assistance be provided to war-affected victims, and that access be facilitated to all areas where the Internally Displaced Persons might be located. 

We support the IGAD process in ensuring a comprehensive agreement between the GRSS and SPLM-in-opposition, as well as former detainees, in Addis Ababa; we urge that the next phase of dialogue should be occur within an inclusive Transitional Government authorized to supervise the implementation of any final peace agreement.  Such an inclusive Transitional Government should engage in a process of constitutional review, urge reconciliation and healing, provide basic social services, defense and law enforcement, and initiate reconstruction.

We support the democratic principles that are enshrined in our constitution, specifically with respect to elected government officials and members of parliament.  We strongly believe that the interim constitution and the permanent constitution itself must respect the basic tenets of democracy in all structures and institutions.

We demand that any atrocity crimes committed during the current civil war be investigated and prosecuted by our national legal system.

To support effective peace efforts, we urge that the money recently pledged by donors' conference in Oslo (Norway) should be focused on South Sudanese children and their families, especially those affected in the states of Jonglei, Upper Nile, and Unity. Building schools and hospitals in the affected areas must also be a priority.  Affected families should be supported in settling in their native villages and towns.

We urge that solutions to issues raised by the current conflict in South Sudan come from the people of South Sudan themselves and not be imposed by foreign actors imposing their own will.

We seek to avoid setting a pattern of acquiring power through military means and thus violating the constitution; democratic power must come only through the ballot box. We urge that any interim government be headed by the current democratically elected president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, until new elections take place. At the same time we call for political accommodation of the SPLM-in-opposition, former detainees, and other South Sudanese political parties; we call on the mediators of the peace talks to maintain transparency and reflect civil society voices and views in re-structuring the interim government as well as proposals for the current, and ultimately permanent, constitution.

We urge the Government of the Republic of South Sudan and the rebels in opposition, plus all South Sudanese political parties and other civil society organizations, commit themselves in a national conference to reject war and embrace peace by signing a national document in a broader peace and reconciliation conference to save the people of South Sudan from future wars. Therefore, we urge that any reconciliation process, national healing conferences and restructuring system of governance and sessions takes place inside South Sudan and must be compatible with a peaceful and constitutional transfer of power through elections. 

We also urge that there must be an overall plan to focus on human resources as a means of nation-building, including former rebels; we also urge that soldiers be trained in special vocational schools to qualify them for jobs.  Only this can support peace in the long term.

We urge all stakeholders to commit themselves to the peace process without pre-conditions, and we are committed to engage all stakeholders inside South Sudan under auspices of South Sudan National Inclusive Transitional Government that shall supervise timely implementation of Addis Ababa Peace cease-fire agreement.  Key priorities should be in the areas of defense and law enforcement, reconstruction, the process of National Reconciliation and Healing, provision of basic social services, the process of national constitutional review to agree on a system of governance, conducting a national census, reviewing the Political Parties Act 2012, and conducting General Elections.

Signed by: South Sudanese Citizens