The Chollo King of the Shilluk Kingdom, Kwongo Dak Padiet, called for a need for consolidating healing, peace and reconciliation ahead of the December 2024 elections.
The statement came after the King met with President Salva Kiir yesterday.
“President Kiir and the King of the Collo Kingdom, Kwongo Dak Padiet, exchanged views on the current state of affairs in the nation on Thursday,” noted the Presidential Press Unit (PPU).
The Minister of Presidential Affairs, Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin, stated that the President Kiir and the Chollo King had a conversation on sustaining the prevailing peace and stability within the country.
“King Kwongo Dak Padiet said he touched base with the President on the need for consolidating healing, peace and reconciliation ahead of the 2024 general elections,” PPU added.
Their meeting comes after another one held in 2022, where they discussed ways of stopping the intercommunal clashes that had taken a swathe in the Upper Nile region. President Kiir had appealed for restraint and called for the immediate restoration of order.
King Padiet on the other hand, called upon the Upper Nile citizens to shun violence and join hands to work and restore peace, unity, and development within the area.
The Chollo King was received in a colourful ceremony which also attracted the attendance of his counterparts of Anyuak and Azande communities. This was after he had been airlifted to Juba during the clashes between the Agwelek forces led by Gen Johnson Olony and the community militia group, popularly known as the “White army.”
Upper Nile State, where King Padiet traces his kingdom, was previously rocked by inter-ethnic violence that displaced thousands into Malakal PoC.
Before holding the elections, Chapter five of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict of South Sudan (R-ARCSS), states that the government should form a commission for truth, reconciliation, and healing as one of the critical journey for peace and healing process for the South Sudanese.
This, together with the establishment of the hybrid court, are considered instrumental to realising justice for the victims of war who were either forcefully evicted from their settlements or lost relatives in past civil wars.
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