Church leader demands enforcement of peace in South Sudan’s chaotic Terekeka

By Simon Deng
Violence continues to rock South Sudan’s Terekeka County in Central Equatoria State, and now a church leader is demanding force must be employed to ensure peace reigns.
“The question of peace is not a peace that one can simply say it is already there, it is a peace that has to be enforced and each one of us is enforcer of this peace,” Stephen Ameyu Martin Mullah, the Archbishop of the Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Juba said while closing a three days peace conference for the Mundari community in Juba.
Despite recommendations made by several conferences held since 2017 to resolve the community’s disagreement, Mundari communities have continued to face cattle-related sectional conflicts, killings and displacement across the state.
The violence has led to loss of lives and displacement of thousands of civilians.
“If we maintain this peace, peace to our neighbors, peace to ourselves we hope that through dialogue and through reconciliation maybe a reality, the pursue of peace is not as dramatic as pursue of conflict, human problems are manmade and therefore man can also resolve these problems,” Mullah said.
Pitia Moses, the Secretary for the community-based peace conference said that the community is committed to peace, noting that the Mundari have made compromises for the sake of peace and development.
“The delegates also affirmed their utmost commitment to end sectional conflicts in Mundari and agree to forgive one another, reconcile for the sake of peace and development in Terekeka and central Equatoria state in general,” Moses said.
Gerald Francis, the Minister for Peace Building at Central Equatoria State urged the Mundari to maintain peace and stability, adding that the traditional peace building mechanisms need to be embraced to end all forms of conflict across the state.
“Peace and stability should naturally lead to prosperity as we move forward let us not forget our traditional peace building mechanisms, we are state founded on peace and unity even as we move forward with implementation of decision for this conference, let us do so with brotherly and sisterly love,” Francis said.
In January last year, Emmanuel Anthony Adil, the state governor, formed a committee to reconcile the Mundari communities but the committee has not publicly disclosed its achievements.
The Mundari Community Peace and Reconciliation led by Paul Yugusuk, the archbishop for Central Equatoria state internal province brought together chiefs, youths, religious leaders, intellectuals, politicians from Terekeka county and representatives from neighboring communities in Central Equatoria State.