Juba-South Sudan, South Sudanese have been rallied to distance themselves from all forms of violence and embrace unity in their respective diversities, the call was made by the President of the Republic of South Sudan, H.E Salva Kiir Mayardit in a speech delivered by Cabinet Affairs Minister, Hon. Benjamin Marial Barnaba, while addressing a gathering of youth, women, the civil society, and elders at a one-day event dubbed Tukul Talks.

Hon. Marial stressed that it was important for South Sudanese to have honest conversations, set aside their past differences and forge a stronger and unified country,

“The tukul in South Sudan is a place where families come together and interact, today we are having the Tukul talks as one national family to dialogue and build a better and stronger nation of South Sudan”

The “Tukul” is an Arabic word to depict a small traditional grass-thatched house, and predominately in South Sudan, it is where people sit together, discuss, and sleep as a united family.

It is also where pertinent issues affecting/impacting society are discussed and resolved collectively. The Tukul is an equivalent of the famous Liberian “Palava Hut” which were instrumental in the traditional justice system for war crimes in that country. The Tukul Talk cultures have been inherited and passed on from generation to generation by forefathers dating back to the olden days when parents sat around the fireplace to tell stories as well as passage knowledge of lineage.

Ambassador Alier Deng, a prominent scholar who looked back at South Sudan’s history dating back to colonial era before the country seceded from Sudan; he expounded on different agreements leading up to the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) that resulted to a referendum and subsequent separation of South Sudan from Sudan. In his lecture, he weighed on the government to stop cattle raids, and communal clashes,

“Tribalism should be our source of strength rather than division or trouble”, he urged.

High-level government representation ranging from Defense Minister, Hon. Angelina Teny, Deputy Finance Minister, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Hon Deng Dau Deng, and Youth and Sports Minister Hon. Albino Bol attended the event, with all voicing important concerns on peace. Hon. Albino called upon parents to stop child and forced marriage, stressing that it is high time the country ceased placing a price tag on the girl-child and avoid trading in them as commodities.

“We need to change our mindset of looking at girls as commodities to be sold out, give them a chance to complete their education to realize their full potential, and allow them to marry whom they would choose to marry at the right time rather than force them into marriages”, Hon. Albino emphasized.

During a panel discussion on the role of young people in peace and nation-building moderated by UNFPA Country Representative, Dr. Ademola Olajide said,

“Systems rooted at the community level must be enabled to facilitate intergenerational dialogue that ensures convergence between the vision of the elders and the aspirations of the youth on peace and nation building”

Edmond Yakani, the executive director for Community Empowerment Organization (CEPO) a civil society organization called on South Sudanese to desist from the culture of solving differences by the barrel of the gun,

“If we disagree with you politically or in any way, a gun should not be the last resolve, we can use other methods of ironing out our differences in another way” Yakani urged.

The event comes a day after the departure of Pope Francis whose call to the leadership of South Sudan centered on peace and accountability, and these were also reechoed by the Public Service Minister, Hon. Joseph Bangasi Bakasoro, who thanked UNFPA for the initiative of bringing participants from the ten states and the three administrative areas for the event.

“After the visit of the pope, we as a Country must set aside our pain, hatred, and anger, we should ask ourselves where we came from, where we are today, and where we are headed to, let’s stay away from tribalism “Bakasoro stressed.

One of the major challenges facing South Sudan is pockets of communal violence, cattle raids, and abductions as it is trying to overcome fragmentations within the society resulting as an outcome of long civil wars.

It is through the Tukul Talks initiative that UNFPA, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs brought over 300 participants from the country’s ten states and the three administrative areas to talk about bridging bridged collectively for a peaceful South Sudan.

 ‘A peaceful South Sudan can only be achieved through dialogue, South Sudan is entering an important phase of constitutional making, and everybody, especially the youth have to be fully engaged ” said  Musa Gasama, a Representative from UNMISS

The country has a youthful population where young people below the age of 30 comprising an estimated 73.6 percent.