Asked if she wants to be the president of South Sudan when she grows up, 12-year-old Rebecca Aman Chan, a student at the Asementi Primary School gazes into the mid-distance, pondering this exciting thought experiment.

“Our better lives do not lie in machine guns.”

Those were the words of Rachael Amuor Pach, the Jonglei Minister for Gender, Child and Social Welfare, at the conclusion of a special women’s forum for reconciliation and peace in Bor, hosted by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan.

South Sudanese women are calling for political leaders to meet their commitment to ensuring 35 percent representation in the new transitional government and are urging each other to actively participate in the peace process to protect their collective interests.