‘Truth is the basis of reconciliation in S Sudan’ – Kiir

A three-day Transitional Justice Mechanism Conference commenced in Juba on Monday under the theme: “Building a South Sudan Model for Transitional Justice System”.

The conference is being attended by members of the public, civil society activists, religious leaders, and all the government officials from the national, 10 states and 3 administrative areas.

While launching the Transitional Justice System Conference at the Freedom hall in Juba, Salva Kiir emphasized on truth as the obligation for reconciliation in the country.

“We want to establish the truth as basis for reconciliation and healing after the violence and destruction upon our people delightful,” Kiir told the attendants.

Frustrated as a longtime liberator and as first president of independent South Sudan, Kiir believes the conference on justice mechanism is very crucial for it will pave way for truth, reconciliation, and healing for all South Sudanese.

He says the conflict in South Sudan resulted to many deaths and destruction and it is now time to reflect on it and ensure the country never returns in war.

“The unnecessary conflict caused a lot of deaths, destroyed the little development made during the CPA era, it divided people along ethnic lines and disrupted the economic growth and the two conflicts were very violent, led to human right violations and to is for this reason that the revitalized peace agreement on the resolution of the conflict in the Republic of South Sudan providing Chapter 5 on Transitional Justice, Accountability, Reconciliation and Healing was established,’’ he explained.

‘’I consider this as an important chapter for it give people the opportunity to seek truth, reconcile and heal the wounds of being victims based on truth, those who are found guilty will have the opportunity to apologize and ask for forgiveness, the victims will also have the heart to forgive and may qualify for compensation and repatriation.’’

He reiterated on his vow to never take the country in South Sudan to prepare South Sudan towards the anticipated 2024 election and this he says is for the purpose of peace.

“I will never take South Sudan and its people to war again for us to consolidate peace and be able to conduct a credible free and fair elections and the laws must be enacted for the establishment of the mechanism, and we want to do this for the purpose of peace and reconciliation,” Kiir added.

For his part, the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs of South Sudan, Ruben Madol Arol, hopes that the establishment of truth, reconciliation and healing will reflect the needs and expectations of the people of South Sudan.

Chapter five (5) of the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement on the Resolutions of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) detailed the processes of Transitional Justice, Accountability, Reconciliation and Healing.

Under these chapter three institutions are to be established and that is, The Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing (CTRH); An independent hybrid judicial body, to be known as known as the Hybrid Court for South Sudan (HCSS) and the Compensation and Reparation Authority (CRA).