Retired Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul | Credit | File photo

A religious leader has urged the parties to the conflict to lay down their guns

and embark on dialogue to end the crisis.

The Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of

Juba, Santo Laku Pio, told Eye Radio that violation of the cessation of hostilities agreement by the parties is a threat to the peace process in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

“All guns must go quiet, that is all.  The voice of the Church is that all the guns must go quiet. The solution is that the UN peacekeeping forces should put their guns in the stores, the Government of South Sudan should put their guns in the stores, the opposition should put their guns in the stores and whichever player wants to bring in guns should be stopped. And we also learned of some people who are supporting this by bringing in ammunition, they are made in the outside world and they are brought in for killing our people. So as a Church we are saying guns should be stopped. The Ugandans are here because war was here. So whenever there is war everybody wants to go to fight and they go with their own guns. So all these guns should go away,” he said.

Bishop Santo suggests that for South Sudan to enjoy lasting peace and stability, all communities must be represented in the National Government.

“I think for this conflict to be permanently solved, as a country, we have about 64 tribes and like the United Nations, we need a system of governance that will satisfy the people and this system of governance should be built on a democratic federal system of governance where the power is with the people, not with the present system. We need a people-driven Constitution that has to be started and built by technocrats as well as in consultation with the people of South Sudan,” he added.

Bishop Santo Laku urged Churches to engage in the healing and reconciliation process in order to ensure that there is true peace in South Sudan.