JUBA, Sept.19 (Xinhua) -- South Sudanese women on Wednesday called on their leaders to show political will toward implementation of a recent peace agreement ahead of the World Peace Day to be marked on Sept. 21.
South Sudanese women staged a peaceful procession to welcome the recently-signed revitalized peace agreement.
Betty Sunday, a woman leader told Xinhua in Juba that the women in collaboration with civil society groups welcomed the signed final peace pact and urged President Salva Kiir, rebel leader Riek Machar and other parties to be genuine towards the peace implementation.
"We appeal to our leaders who have committed themselves to signing the revitalized final peace deal to put aside their political differences and implement the agreement in letter and spirit," Sunday said.
Mary Justo Tombe, information officer at the Women Monthly Forum, said all the signatories to the agreement should get it right this time round to bring a sustainable peace to the world's youngest nation.
"Signing of peace is a good thing, but the actual realization will be in the implementation and that is when we will feel peace is in the country," Tombe said.
She said women, children, the elderly, and the disabled should not continue bearing the burden and consequences of the conflict.
The peace march was organized by the Women Monthly Forum in conjunction with the South Sudan Peace Commission, United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) and brought together over 300 women from various women's organizations in Juba.
South Sudan's warring parties last week signed the final revitalized peace agreement to end five years of killing and suffering in the East African nation after conflict erupted in 2013 after forces loyal to Kiir and his former deputy Machar engaged in combat.
The 2015 peace agreement to end the violence was again violated in July 2016 when the rival factions resumed fighting in Juba which forced Machar to flee into exile.
Millions of South Sudanese civilians have sought refuge in neighboring countries as the conflict rages on despite attempts by international players to end it.
