Meanwhile, the Uganda Joint Christian Council plans to write a joint statement addressing the leadership in Juba appealing for peace.

Bishop Onono Onweng says at the heart of this statement to be released later this week is a reiteration to the leaders to settle down and provide peace to the country.

CE – 25 – 07 – 2016 – Bishop Onono Onweng on letter

“We are targeting his excellency Salva Kiir, we are addressing Dr Riak Machar and all the leaders there including the armed forces who are fighting , we are addressing our concerns to the leadership asking them to let the people of South Sudan live in peace. God has given them authority to provide leadership can they settle down and provide leadership to the people of South Sudan.”

Meanwhile, the Uganda Joint Christian Council plans to write a joint statement addressing the leadership in Juba appealing for peace.

Bishop Onono Onweng says at the heart of this statement to be released later this week is a reiteration to the leaders to settle down and provide peace to the country.

CE – 25 – 07 – 2016 – Bishop Onono Onweng on letter

“We are targeting his excellency Salva Kiir, we are addressing Dr Riak Machar and all the leaders there including the armed forces who are fighting , we are addressing our concerns to the leadership asking them to let the people of South Sudan live in peace. God has given them authority to provide leadership can they settle down and provide leadership to the people of South Sudan.”

UN Peacekeeping Chief, Hervé Ladsous, Peace in South Sudan can only be salvaged through “a strong political and coordinated approach.”

 

The Security Council meeting marks the second time this week that the chamber has taken up this latest crisis in South Sudan.

 

Addressing the council on Wednesday, the Peace Keeping chief Herve Ladsous said concerted action by the Security Council is required.

           

CE – 14 – 07 – 2016 – Herve Ladsous

 

“We can see clearly now the results of the Parties’ deliberate attempts to stall the implementation of the peace agreement signed almost one year ago in August 2015. We can no longer afford to sit idle as the people of South Sudan bear the brunt of the intransigence of their leaders. Only a strong political and coordinated approach can salvage the peace process now. 

 

Mr Ladsous says that the havoc and suffering subjected on the people of South Sudan by its leaders must come to an end.

 

CE – 14 – 07 – 2016 – Herve Ladsous 2

 

“The Security Council must urgently reconsider an arms embargo. Clearly, the threat of one has done little to deter the Parties. Likewise, additional targeted sanctions on leaders and commanders blocking the implementation of the Peace Agreement must be enacted immediately. South Sudan’s never-ending life line to wreak havoc on its people must come to an end now.” 

 

 

 

 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses the UN conference on Trade and Development, highlighting the current conflict in South Sudan as a destabilizing factor in the east African region.

Arrangements are being made to provide security escort for  Truck drivers carrying food and other merchandise to Juba.

Radio Miraya understands that hundreds of truck drivers have for more than one week been stranded at the Uganda  - South Sudan Border in Nimule, because of insecurity along the Juba – Nimule road.

The stranded trucks have created  a sudden shortage of food and other essentials in the Market. Our reporter took a stroll around Konyo Konyo market on Thursday and found that the market stalls were virtually empty.

Speaking to Miraya Breakfast show, Lt. Gen Akok Non Akok, the Director General of Customs, said plans are underway to provide armed escort to the truck drivers so they can deliver food to Juba.

CE – 22 – 07 – 2016 - Lt. Gen Akok Non Akok

“ I would like to inform the General Public that the issue is not to do with clearance. It is truck drivers who are refusing to come to Juba, due to insecurity along the Juba – Nimule Highway, so I reported the complaint to the authorities concerned and as we speak, arrangements to escort a convoy to Juba will be completed today and therefore by tomorrow more than 100 trucks will arrive in Juba, this is what I can say.”

 

The new guidelines come amid a public outcry,  about the decline in the weight and size of bread sold on the market.

 

Speaking to Radio Miraya, Gabriel Majok, Public Relations and Information Officer in the South Sudan National Bureau of standards, said the standard weight for bread is between 58 and 60 grams per loaf.

 

 

CE – 26 – 07 2016, Gabriel Majok

 

“The crisis that has happened in this one week or two weeks ago has really made everything to go to individual decision and that is not supposed to be as long as Juba is calm we need all the bakery owners to go back to their real size that they used to produce the bread by making sure that a bread must weigh 58 to 60 grams if you did not check the right size of the bread then we have legal measures to be taken and that is according to the law”

 

Majok said a team from the National Bureau of standards will work with relevant law enforcement authorities, to ensure that the guidelines are followed. 

 

South Sudan’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Akuei Bona Malwa, has told the UN security council that  the TGoNU, remains the best mechanism to bring peace in South Sudan.

 

He regretted the death of UN peace keepers and told the Security council that the recent fighting in Juba and other setbacks are part of the learning curve.

 

The ambassador urged the Security Council to engage all sides to double their efforts to implement the agreement so that South Sudan’s people can begin building a better future.

 

CE – 14 – 07 – 2016 - Akuei Bona Malwa

 

“I would like to express my deepest condolences to the UN peacekeeping force and personnel who lost their life during the unfortunate event in Juba. The Transitional Government of National Unity remains on course to implement the agreement despite the numerous challenges we are facing. We call on you to collaboratively work with the TGoNU on how best we could together deliver peace to my people.”

 

 

 

A child’s message to the leadership in South Sudan to stop the fighting.

The outreach program, was initiated by Maridi Health and science Institute.

 

Peter Garang, a peer student Coordinator, says the outreach program has been called off, to allow students time to concentrate on their studies.

 

CE – 26 July 16-  Peter Garang

 

“We had three schools outreaches, three hospital outreaches, and three Radio talkshows, we are able to create awareness to eight hundred and seven three people. The campaign was to run for six month from 23^rd May to 23^rd November,  we have stopped due to some challenges until may be September when everything is Ok. We were targeting almost one hundred thousand from the two counties of Maridi ”.

“We’re just tired of what’s going on in South Sudan. We want peace,” rap musician Lual swore, as Radio Miraya sampled the views of some young men and women campaigning for peace in the troubled country.

 

The organisers say the campaign, dubbed Anataban, provides a platform for ordinary people to make their voices heard and to draw attention to the suffering of the masses.

 

“The impact of things happening in Juba, the robberies, the insecurity … we’re all tired,” moans fellow campaigner Marina. “We need to tell a different story. We need to move on. We yearn for a lot of things, including peace, but nothing is forthcoming.”

 

Anataban harnesses the arts to promote dialogue in the communities through music, street theatre, sculpture, poetry and just about any form of expression that could strike a chord with the public at large, and the youth in particular.

 

“Most of us were born in war, raised in war and we’re now trying to die in war,” Lual laments. “We want a South Sudan that people could be proud of and don’t have to die. That’s why I joined Anataban.”

 

He believes he can bring the campaign great impetus as an artist and, more especially in view of his musical genre and the themes that resonate in his songs.

 

“I’m a rap artist and an activist at the same time,” Lual told Radio Miraya. “I talk about things that are not going well in South Sudan and I try to advise people through music.”

 

Marina, meanwhile, was quick to dismiss critics of the peace initiative, who express doubts about the possibility of any youth movement making an impact on the scheme of things in South Sudan.

 

“Every single citizen of this country has a role to play in creating positive change,” she countered, insisting that the call for change was by no means a call to violence. “Violence does not solve anything. If we can just sit down and talk matters out, things will change,” she reasoned.

 

Concurring, Lual  urged even more forums outside Anataban in which the youth could come together to reflect on ways to forge peace in the country.

 

“We need to unite and not take sides with politicians who are trying to use us to do things in their own interest,” he cautioned. “We should just stand firm and say enough is enough and seek peace for South Sudan, the place we call home.”

 

 

 

President Uhuru Kenyatta concluded a one day visit to Juba on Tuesday with words of encouragement for the country’s leaders to continue to press on with the implementation of the peace agreement. 

 

As special rapporteur of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to the South Sudan peace process, the Kenyan leader’s visit was to demonstrate regional support and ensure implementation of the peace deal signed in August 2015.

 

“We are here to offer any kind of support to help accelerate this process,” President Kenyatta told reporters after a closed-door meeting with President Salva Kiir, adding that his country was ready to offer “moral” and “material” support.  

 

President Kenyatta said he was pleased about the developments in the country since the fighting in July.

 

“I am glad to have seen for myself that after the unfortunate incident that took place a few weeks ago, everything in Juba looks like it is back to normal and the government is working in harmony,” he said. 

 

President Kiir said the visit by the Kenyan leader is testimony to strong regional support.

 

"For President Uhuru to come to Juba, shows that the regional leadership is with us, and they are very concerned about the situation in South Sudan," Kiir said.

President Uhuru Kenyatta was the first head of state to visit the country after the fighting in July, and comes just days before the United Nations Security Council is expected to visit South Sudan.