Sustainable solution urged to end South Sudan's 4-year conflict

ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- South Sudanese leaders and stakeholders have been urged to work out a sustainable solution to a four-year conflict gripping the world's youngest country.

Led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a five-day High-Level Revitalization Forum for the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan entered its second day on Tusday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Launching the forum on Monday, IGAD Chairperson Hailemariam Desalegn called on the South Sudanese warring parties to do their part for the peace and stability of their country.

Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, said the week would be a historic one in the post-independence history of South Sudan.

"It can mark the beginning of a real reconciliation and the end of the suffering that the people of your country have been experiencing for four years," Faki said.

Commending IGAD for its commitment and unwavering support to the peaceful resolution of the conflict in South Sudan, the chairperson of the AU Commission urged all AU member states and the international community to make every effort to support the efforts of the region.

Festus Mogae, chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) for South Sudan, called on all South Sudanese leaders and stakeholders to come to the table in search of a sustainable political solution, to renounce violence and demonstrate political will to compromise and accommodate one another.

"At every level of society, from the village, to the community, the county, the state and the nation, dialogue and reconciliation must begin in earnest," Mogae said. "You must find within you a desire to set aside the gun and settle your differences through dialogue and compromise."

According to an IGAD statement, each of the delegates of the South Sudanese parties and stakeholders have expressed their strong support for the revitalization process. Enditem