President Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar have called upon the United States and Britain not to support the hybrid court under the peace agreement.

They say this should be replaced with a truth and reconciliation process.

They warn that fighters suspected of atrocities in the conflict may prefer to return to war than to stand trial under the peace agreement.

The two leaders say disciplinary justice would destabilize efforts to unite our nation by keeping alive anger and hatred among the people of South Sudan.

In an article published with the byline of President Kiir and Dr Riek in the New York Times newspaper, the two men call upon the international community to consider the current state of the country.

The TGoNU principals say that years of war have left the country with one of the highest levels of military spending in the world. The army and its former opponents now need to be integrated.

They expressed fear that the reintegration could be put in jeopardy if members of once opposing forces find themselves targeted with legal action.

The two leaders say it is easy to see how some people, who have known nothing but war, may prefer to return to the battlefield than stand trial in a foreign country.

They have called for the formation a national truth and reconciliation commission, to investigate and interview people from the poorest farmer to the most powerful politician.

“But bringing South Sudan together can be truly guaranteed only through one route: an organized peace and reconciliation process with international backing,” the leaders said in the letter.

“In such a process, everyone in South Sudan might engage in the act of remembering through dialogue, and by so doing affirm the truth of what happened during our bloody civil war.”

The purpose will not be to seek forgiveness, but to prepare the people of South Sudan for nation building alongside those who committed crimes against them and their families and communities.

Presidential Press Secretary says the latter of the leaders is intended to inform the international community that they have built mutual trust between themselves.

“You know they have actually built mutual trust between themselves and they are now for full implementation of the peace on the resolution of the conflict in the Republic of South Sudan and that’s why they are appealing to international community to help build nation and reconcile the people of South Sudan in as much as they can,” Ateny Wek Ateny told Eye Radio on Wednesday.

However, Human Rights Watch says this new proposal shows that the leaders are withdrawing from their previous commitment to ensure a hybrid court was created by the African Union.

In a statement, the rights group says this proposal could result into evasion of justice at the expense of victims of atrocities, which can only be

But in the article, the two leaders insist that everyone in South Sudan might engage in the act of remembering through dialogue under peace and reconciliation processes.