President Kenyatta with Ethiopian PM Desalegne and SSudan leader Salva Kiir in Juba/ FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 25 – President Uhuru Kenyatta has condemned the killing of hundreds of innocent civilians caught up in the internal conflict of the South Sudan Liberation Movement.
He said it was unacceptable for the world to remain silent as innocent citizens continue being killed.
“During the 20th commemoration of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, I expressed our region’s disappointment at having done little to nothing at the time to end the slaughter of a million innocent human beings in Rwanda by a bloodthirsty cabal,” he said.
“I also pledged, in the name of Kenya and the region that we would never again allow a similar genocide to happen within our shores.”
“I return to the pledge today because of what is happening in parts of South Sudan, we are outraged and gravely concerned at seeing the killing of hundreds of innocent civilians caught up in the internal conflict of the South Sudan Liberation Movement. We refuse to be witnesses to such atrocities and to remain helpless and hopeless in their wake.”
In a statement, the President said the East African community will not allow a similar trend like that of Rwanda genocide to occur as they watch.
“We especially reject the possibility that we are creeping into genocide again in our region. We shall not stand by and allow it to happen,” he vowed.
He says both parties in South Sudan must honour the agreement they signed earlier to maintain peace.
“The SPLM in Government and its rival SPLM in Opposition agreed to a Cessation of Hostilities at well-publicised summits of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), in Nairobi on 27th December, 2013 and in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa in January and March, 2014,” he pointed out.
He however said that despite, “The signatories to the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement then went right ahead to ignore the agreements they had entered into and have continued to fight, kill and destroy property with disastrous ramifications.”
The President called for unity among regional and international leaders in dealing with the violence challenge in South Sudan saying, “It is up to the region and the global community to ensure that we live to the promise we made in Kigali, Rwanda, earlier this month: never again. We in Kenya and the region take that pledge seriously.”
He revealed that as a region, they will be convening an emergency summit of IGAD in coming days to deliberate and “consider our options on the subject.”
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