Hundreds of civilians fleeing violence in Bor region arrive at dawn to one of the many small ports that run alongside the camps in Awerial region, having crossed over the Nile River by night on January 9, 2014 at Minkammen, South Sudan to get to the camps. AFP PHOTO/Nichole SOBECKI
By OTIATO GUGUYU
There is a simmering tension among South Sudanese residents in Kenya as factions supporting different sides of the divide in the ongoing conflict form polarised clusters.
John Pen De Ngong of the South Sudan Peace Coalition (SSPC) says groupings have developed along ethnic lines and are now refusing to associate with each other.
The SSPC incorporates 26 Non-Governmental Organisations that operate in Kenya.
“When we called for all Sudanese to come and pray together for peace, we found out that some kept away because they feared an open confrontation among the different tribes while some received alarmist text messages,” Mr Ngong said.
He was speaking at St Lukes Church Ngumo in Nairobi where the coalition had organised a prayer meeting to mark the ninth anniversary signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which was signed in Nyayo stadium in 2005.
He however cautioned his countrymen that if their conflict was to spill into Kenya they risked being rounded up and returned to Kakuma.
“The youth have no stake in this conflict, they are being used by politicians who have hijacked South Sudanese independence for their own political reasons,” he asserted.
DIFFICULT RELATIONS
Mr Ngong pointed out that it had become difficult for South Sudanese youth to relate well in the face of sad news of dying relatives pouring from home.
He felt that since the conflict took a tribal incline members of the warring tribes had taken to blaming each other.
Manyuon Mach Deng who had attended the service said he was disappointed that an agreement had not been reached terming the continued fighting as shameful and disappointing.
“We had hoped that in the spirit of this day when we signed the CPA, the warring parties would call a ceasefire and just like nine years ago achieve peace again,” he said.
According to Deng, the significance of this day was supposed to impress upon the warring factions.
The day is however not celebrated in South Sudan officially as it was scrapped in 2009 by the Juba government.
The coalition of 26 NGOs under the SSPC plans to rally South Sudanese from all tribes in a peace initiative that would see them contribute and donate humanitarian assistance back to their country.
“We intend to develop structures to collect contributions from well-wishers like blankets food and medical supplies to send relief to compatriots who have fled the conflict,” Ngong added.
These efforts come in the face of stalled talks in Ethiopia over detained politicians and renewed offensive by the Juba government forces in the towns of Bentiu, Bor and Nile Upper state.