CEPO petitions MPs over violence in Warrap, Western Equatoria
Warning: Undefined array key 0 in /home2/cityrevi/public_html/wp-content/themes/_city/single.php on line 65
The Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) has petitioned Members of Parliament to address the violence that has rocked Warrap and Western Equatoria States.
CEPO boss Edmund Yakani has called on the lawmakers in the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly and the Council of States to debate on the ongoing violence in the two states and find a lasting solution.
The organization’s call comes as a result of an increase in inter-communal violence in the two states.
More than 30 people have been killed and 48 others wounded in a renewed inter-communal violence in Tonj County in Warrap State early this month.
The same has affected Tombura County where fresh inter-communal fighting erupted Wednesday night and spilled over to Thursday afternoon, the state Minister of Information William Baiki told The City Review.
The inter-communal clashes in Tombura started in May 2020 and it has so far displaced over 80,000 people from the area and several lives lost according to a September report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
In the petition letter issued on Thursday, CEPO expressed concerns about the situation in Tombura County of Western Equatoria State where political violence is ongoing.
“The numbers of deaths among civilians and displacement of the population due to violence is disturbing, especially at this particular moment when the country’s political leaders say they are implementing the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan,” CEPO said in the petition to lawmakers.
“It is contradictory to see lawmakers attending debates while undermining ongoing inter-communal violence in the constituencies they represent,” it added.
The organization urged lawmakers to urgently hold a parliamentary session on the ongoing violence in Warrap and the Western Equatoria States to save the lives of civilians in those States.
It also called on the lawmakers to summon the Ministers of Defense, National Security, and Interior to explain why violence is occurring among the communities.
CEPO further urged the presidency to issue a directive for immediate actions aimed at preventing the ongoing deadly violence and that MPs should also take parliamentary field visits to the areas riddled by violence.
