Nairobi, 13 September, 2019 / 9:56 am (ACI Africa).
On the first anniversary of the peace agreement in South Sudan, religious leaders in Africa are pushing for peace in South Sudan and want heads of state within the African region to be proactive in the peace process, the leaders stated at a press conference in Nairobi Thursday, September 12.
On September 12, 2018, South Sudan’s President, Salva Kiir and the rebel leader Riak Machar signed a power-sharing deal in which they promised to end the five-year civil strife that crippled their country in many ways. The peace deal has remained stalled twelve months on.
“We come together as the religious leaders of Africa to call for urgent action from leaders of South Sudan’s neighboring governments to ensure there is significant progress in the implementation of peace agreement ahead of the end of the pre-transition period on November 12,” religious leaders in Africa stated at the press conference.
“It is our conviction that these regional leaders have the power to influence lasting peace in South Sudan,” the clergy explained during their Thursday mid-morning press conference, calling “upon the leaders of every country in the region to come together, in line with the spirit of Pan-Africanism … and zealously support efforts that will help build a peaceful South Sudan.”
The religious leaders’ statement is signed by various faith-based leaders in Africa including Nigeria’s John Cardinal Onaiyekan, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja.
