Internally displaced persons, staying next to the permanent base of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan in the suburbs of Yei town, welcome the ongoing peace talks in Sudan but want to see practical results. They urge all parties to honour their professed commitment to ending the conflict and the suffering.

Most of those seeking shelter in Yei arrived from the Western Equatoria region in 2015, when villages were being set alight and residents fled the violence, leaving their former property behind. They are tired of not having proper homes and an opportunity to resume stable lives.

“Our neighbours have developed so much, but we are lagging behind because we cannot rebuild our lives while we are on the run,” says Lobirin Mori, local area chief of the community of the displaced in Yei.  

Angelina Yeno, a widow of eight children said that, though she had heard that peace talks were ongoing in Khartoum, she should not be blamed for taking news of these developments with a pinch of salt:

“What I would love to see first thing is a genuine, inclusive peace process that would guarantee a permanent return to stability. We all stand to lose in this war. Many people have already died, and many others are still dying,” she says, adding that ending the war is the best incentive the leaders of the country can give its citizens to return home and resume their livelihoods.

Ms. Yeno says that the conditions in which they live are horrific. Health facilities are inadequate, malnutrition is common, children often suffer from cold weather and their makeshift tents tend to collapse whenever there is a heavy rain.

Emmanuel Usman, an 18-year old student, says that he is optimistically waiting to see, with his own eyes, the practical outcomes of what peace negotiators have agreed on, including the guarantees put in place to prevent another return to fighting.

Young Usman’s goal is to study to become a future South Sudan president to help unite the country. His manifesto would be to ensure equitable distribution of resources to end inter-ethnic divisions, corruption, poverty and illiteracy, and to promote economic prosperity for everyone.

A 14-year old female student, Abia Ebaristo, believes that true peace should translate into no more deaths from guns.

“I am imagining a time when all people in our country will live happily together without fear of death, hunger, displacement and a lack of food.”

Another displaced man, John Bingo Scopas Clement, also keeps his fingers crossed for the so far elusive peace to be delivered this time, convinced that it can be done.

“Without trust and love, families will break up, so I plead with our leaders to embrace love and unity for the sake of peace in our country.”

Once peace prevails, Mr. Clement knows where to go.

“I will go back to my village in Maridi, so that I shall be buried where my grandparents are, when my time comes to join the great majority.”