“I am a woman, a peacemaker and a peacekeeper. That is how I am made.”

Many a peer of Catherine Lotto, representing the Young Women Christian Association, seemed to embody that sentiment on this day at the University of Juba.

Women and girls have borne the brunt of the six-year long conflict in South Sudan. Thousands have experienced the threat or reality of abduction, rape, deprivation, displacement and death.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Council of Ministers has endorsed a request to extend the deadline for the establishment of a Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity by six months.