Retired Bishop Enock Tombe after an interview on Friday 14th Oct 2022 Photo Credit: Charles Wote/Eye Radio

An ex-religious leader has called on South Sudanese communities to dialogue to resolve issues affecting them amicably saying that politicians are after power and money.

Bishop Enock Tombe of the Episcopal church diocese of Rajaf returned to Juba on Tuesday from Ibba County of Western Equatoria State after taking part in a five-day peace-building conference there.

During the conference, Bishop Enock emphasized the importance of restoring and consolidating peace in society.

He told the participants not to wait for politicians or the international communities to resolve their differences.

Speaking to Eye Radio Wednesday Tombe said embracing a bottom-up peace approach will help in holding the leaders accountable.

“Let us not wait for the leaders to agree, they will never agree because they have political interests,

“Some of them want to have more money, some of them want to have powerful positions. We are not saying they should not want these things, but they should do it peacefully,

“We should be the ones asking them [leaders] not IGAD, not Troika, not UN Security Council, we should be asking what our problem is. It was done in 1999 in Wunlit.  So we can do it again.”

The retired clergy facilitated a discussion on security and rule of law, governance, socioeconomic recovery, human rights, and humanitarian assistance, among others.

South Sudan continues to experience devastating inter-communal violence, cattle raiding, child abductions, and land-related conflicts.

In October last year, Bishop Enock Tombe urged the citizens to find home-driven solutions to problems facing the country.

He said it was the responsibility of every citizen to identify issues that are affecting peaceful coexistence within the communities.