South Sudan leader urges opposition groups to genuinely implement peace deal

JUBA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- South Sudanese President Salva Kiir on Thursday urged all the opposition leaders to genuinely work for the smooth implementation of the revitalized peace agreement in order to restore peoples' hopes and aspirations.

Kiir said with peace, the young country can achieve rapid development since the East African nation has resources.

"All this time we have been wasting our resources, including human resource on fighting ourselves in a senseless war. Let us stop it so that we concentrate on development of our country in order for the young nation to move forward," Kiir said in Juba.

Kiir, who spoke during the inauguration of South Sudan defense ministry's building, said if the country continues to experience the prevailing relative calm then the war-torn east African country could achieve tremendous infrastructural development.

"I appeal to all of us to implement the revitalized peace agreement so that the little resources we have could be used for development like the one we are inaugurating today," Kiir said.

"If we continue on with the current trend of working toward achieving total stability without any more disruption, we can do many things and this is the truth, without war we can go forward in a very short time," he added.

Kiir observed that the absence of armed struggle can spur rapid restoration of peace and development, adding that there is need to give the citizens a new window of peace dividends.

President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar signed the revitalized peace deal in September 2018 which was mediated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Ethiopia that ended five years of conflict.

The parties recently agreed to extend the pre-transitional period for another six months before forming the much-awaited transitional unity government that should have been up and running by May 12.