Bishop Santo Laku, the auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese in Juba - Courtesy

The revitalized peace agreement is only benefiting the politicians and not the citizens, Bishop Santo Laku has said.

Bishop Santo, the auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese in Juba spoke at Saint Theresa’s cathedral on Sunday.

He said the leaders are the only ones enjoying peace for themselves and forgetting about the citizens.

The catholic religious leader criticized the government for failing to bring lasting peace to the country, citing the continuous suffering of the South Sudanese.

He also said many South Sudanese are still living in squalid conditions including thousands of internally displaced persons and refugees in the neighboring countries.

Bishop Santo called on the government to bring about peace for every South Sudanese in the country.

“There is no peace that can be lived by an individual, it doesn’t work, if all the corners of South Sudan are not in peace, there is no peace,” said Bishop Santo.

“What they tell you always on television is a total lie, we have people in the PoCs, we have people in the refugee camps, and we have people displaced from their villages,

“You cannot say that there is peace in this country, there is nothing, peace must be peace for everybody, great and small, young and old,

“They are telling lies to the citizens of South Sudan that there is peace, there is no peace. Peace is only for individuals [politicians], for particular groups, people are suffering from hunger.”

Bishop Santo went on to say the leaders have deviated from the vision of the late Dr. John Garang of taking towns to the people.

He said the absence of peace in parts of the country has caused the influx of people into the capital Juba.

Bishop Santo pointed out that peace will only be realized when it’s felt in all corners of the country.

He challenged the Unity government to make peace attractive to every citizen of South Sudan.

“We have all the resources, why are we suffering, why are our people rebelling, too much rebellion, everybody is carrying up guns for what? Because the resources are just the same way it was done during the time of the Arabs, said Bishop Santo.

“The resources were kept in Khartoum, and we were saying oh you know there is this. Now the resources are kept in Juba,

“People are coming to Juba to look for them [resources] unless you give them to them where they are, they will keep coming here,

“Why are people leaving the other nine states and the three administrative areas? And why are they coming here [Juba] why? Because it is not safe, there is no food there, there is insecurity there, the services that you have in Juba are not there.”