Press Statement: CEPO Condemns Deadly Inter-Communal Violence Cycle in Lakes State
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Press Release: CEPO Condemns Deadly Inter-Communal Violence Campaign in Lakes State; Urges the Govt to Quell the Violence
Wednesday, March 25, 2020 (PW) — Recently the trend of deadly inter-communal violence across the country have increased rapidly. The nature of the inter-communal violence has reached to the level of committing human rights atrocities. Cases of rape and indiscriminative killing of elderly persons, child abduction forceful displacement are highly registered in the recent inter-communal violence in some parts of the country. For instance in Bahr el Ghazal region, Lakes Region, Eastern Equatoria and Pibor political administrative area, among others.
Community Empowerment for Progress Organization has decided that silence about this deadly inter-communal violence is enough. It is time to take decision for action aiming at ending the cycle of the inter-communal violence across South Sudan. For this reason, CEPO decided to establish a campaign called “End Inter-Communal Violence”. This campaign main goal is to ensure that practical actions for seeking solutions to the on-going inter-communal violence are found. Among the approach for seeking solution beside the dialogues, will be economical empowerment of the violent young people and the use of court of law for handling politicians and any other identified person as fueling the violence is on the table.
Mr. Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of CEPO said the campaign would be focusing on working with the actual actors in the violence. Experiences showed that the previous community peace dialogues are all political events that never brought the actual actors of the violence on the centre of conversation on solution seeking. This campaign will be different from the previous approach for resolving inter-communal violence from 2011.
The political elites and other individuals who are behind fuelling the inter-communal violence will be subject to face court of law without any compromise or fear. Further, CEPO will be issuing regular reports with facts around individuals identified as suspends of fueling inter-communal violence. It is now clearly that the inter-communal is fueled by those individuals engaged in supplying or selling bullets and small arms such as AK47 and others, Mr. Yakani stressed.
Finally CEPO is urging the government to take urgent action on the scaling up of the inter-communal violence among some of the communities across the country. CEPO is prepared to sues the state to court of law by early on 12th April, 2020 if there is no any intervention adapt by the state for resolving the inter-communal violence.
Community Empowerment for Progress Organization is South Sudan civil society working on governance, human rights, peace building, rule of law and livelihood. It is known for influential advocacy and lobby in South Sudan.
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