UNGA President Dennis Francis meeting the internally displaced persons in South Sudan. |Photo Credit: United Nations|.
By Kenyo Franko, a South Sudanese journalist
President of the United Nations General Assembly, Dennis Francis advised the leaders of South Sudan to not always choose conflict as a means to resolve problems but rather choose dialogue and peaceful means for the sake of unity and stability of their country.
Speaking during a press conference at the UN House in Juba, UNGA President Francis implored the political leaders in South Sudan to always sit down whenever problems arise, citing that problems still exist even after the fight.
“You don’t take punches and fight at all,” he advised. “That does not help, because the problems still exist after you fight. So, the UN brand is a brand of peace, and the UN supports any initiative that will result in internal peace, calm, and stability in South Sudan.”
UNGA President Dennis Francis was responding to an open question asked by freelance journalists during the press conference examining the position of the United Nations concerning the ongoing peace process between the unity government and the holdout groups that abstained from signing the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.
In 2018, before the signing of the revitalized peace agreement, the holdout groups that were later branded as SSOMA (South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance) cited that the revitalized peace agreement fell short of addressing strategic root causes of the conflicts in South Sudan.
“Let me say this: The UN’s brand is peace. That is our brand and that will continue to be our brand. The UN does not, never aligns with conflict and war and fighting because that’s not the way to solve problems.”
Having been touched by the plight of children in South Sudan, the UNGA President entreated the South Sudan leaders to urgently restore peace and stability in their country to guarantee a brighter future for the kids who are now bearing brands of conflict and instability.
“I’m saying this and looking at these young kids, that is not how you solve problems. You solve problems by sitting down with one another and discussing your differences,” he said.
He stressed that the question of the timing of the election is a question for the government and people of South Sudan to decide, saying, the United Nations hopes and encourages that the elections take place and that adequate preparation is made for the elections in order to ensure that it produces a good, strong result that the people of South Sudan are satisfied with and will not question.
“But the decision regarding the timing of the election is a matter for the government and people of South Sudan, bearing in mind that the entire international community will have their eyes on South Sudan to see what happens and the future of this country to a large extent will depend on the extent to which the international community feels satisfied that the country is on the right route,” Francis asserted.
The UNGA President, Dennis Francis, who is in South Sudan on a short official visit to fetch first-hand information regarding the situation in South Sudan, met the cabinet ministers and discussed prospects of achieving durable peace to encourage reconstruction and building of education infrastructures in the country torn by conflict just two years after its independence in 2011.
“South Sudan needs a lot of support, there’s no doubt about it,” he stressed. “Yesterday, I had a meeting with a series of cabinet ministers who are really working hard and dedicated to lifting this country up. But as the Minister of Education told me, there’s a shortage of schools in the country areas. In order to build a school far away, they can’t send the building materials by road because there are no roads. It has to be flown in. Very expensive. These are the practical realities that exist in this country that affect its ability to educate young children as much as the desire is there to do it, it cannot be done all at once and right away. So, we have to be realistic, and I suppose the people of South Sudan have to bear in mind that development is a process. You don’t get up tomorrow morning and everything is fine. It takes hard work and dedication.”
Golden Times | South Sudan
