Chollo Community Council - Urgent Action Needed To Be taken By JMEC

To: H.E Festus G.Mogea, the chairman of JMEC

South Sudan, Juba, 22 May 2016

Urgent Press Statement

The implementation of Peace Agreement which aimed at ending South Sudan's civil war is not progressing despite the formation of TGoNU three weeks ago. The process is sabotaged and being held hostage profoundly by President Kiir and his group, who are not interested in peace but war.

Your Excellency, it is a deplorable as well as a worrying reality that the TGoNU has not lived to the expectation of ordinary citizens of being an all party government working within the Compromise Peace Agreement. Actions of President Kiir have been contrary to this universal belief. Kiir continues to take unilateral decisions some of which are dangerous to the whole country. As if there were no people partying him in the government Kiir started by appointing a chairman of the border commission – something clearly outside his mandate. The president followed that violation of the Peace Agreement by a more serious one. He appointed ten presidential advisors without consulting the First Vice President as stipulated in the Compromise Peace Agreement.

Recently many people heard President Kiir saying he will not abolish the 28 states even if the people of South Sudan die of hunger. There can be no more evidence that Kiir is adamant on his creation order No/36/2015 in clear violation of the peace agreement and total disregard for the hungry and dying people of South Sudan.

Your Excellency, we did not hear you or any of your colleagues in JMEC cautioning president on his path of violations. This has now emboldened him to embark on an all-out genocidal war against the Collo Kingdom. Acquiring advanced military weapons recently from some neighbouring countries seems to encourage Kiir that he may at last accomplish his all time objective of conquering the Collo Kingdom lands.

While the whole was watching President Kiir has been amassing troops with heavy weapons in Upper Nile Region, Malakal, to carry out his criminal ethnic cleansing on Collo nation. Many of these troops are now stationed in Lelo, Warajwok, and Detang village across the river west of Malakal. It may be of interest to you to know that Kiir hired fighters from Blue Nile such as Ingessina  and Uduk area,  also Darfur and mercenaries from other countries.

Moreover, the government stationed helicopter gunships in a place called Rom opposite Kodok on the east bank of the White Nile. Further, military steamers equipped with heavy weapons have left Bor on Friday 20 May 2016 on their way to Malakal. The sole intended objective of this military activity is to dislodge the whole Collo community from ancestral land, in Upper Nile, and accommodate Padang Jieng in there.

Excellency Festus, it is stipulated in the Agreement that soldiers of both parties must be confined to their cantonments during the entire interim period. We may ask why the government troops are allowed to move freely to cause havoc by killing and displacing innocent communities.

We would like to alert JMEC that Government SPLA army is really planning to launch a full scale war to massacre and displace Collo civilian population in Collo Kingdom on the Western Bank of the Nile leave alone the eastern Nile disputed side.

Collo Community Council has a feeling that the international community had not done enough to make the notorious government of Salva Kiir play its role in implementing the peace agreement, though we still have faith in you and JMEC in general.

We are not in doubt about your mandate and political ability to take a decisive action to stop this ill-intended military build-up and confining government soldiers to their allotted cantonments. However, if our plea is ignored for any reason, then we assure you that the world will wake to an untold blood bath in the coming few days – God forbids.

Please accept the assurance of our highest consideration.

Samson Oyay Awin

Chairman of Collo Community Council, Khartoum       

Sunday 22 May 2016