{"id":46110,"date":"2026-07-15T17:20:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T15:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=46110"},"modified":"2026-07-15T17:20:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T15:20:26","slug":"peacebuilding-undersecretary-calls-for-stronger-civil-military-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/peacebuilding-undersecretary-calls-for-stronger-civil-military-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"Peacebuilding Undersecretary calls for stronger civil\u2013military relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sabri Dibaco <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The undersecretary in the National Ministry of Peacebuilding has called for stronger cooperation between civilians and the organised forces, saying rebuilding trust between communities and security personnel is essential for sustaining peace and ensuring credible elections in December.<\/p>\n

Speaking during a Peace Community Cohesion Project, Pia Phillip Michael, the undersecretary, said the National Ministry of Peacebuilding is mandated to identify and address the drivers of conflict across South Sudan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ministry of Peacebuilding has a mandate to ensure that there is stability and peace across the Republic of South Sudan. We look across institutions, and where we identify drivers of conflict, we work with those institutions to make sure that South Sudan can return to stability and peace again,\u201d Pia said.<\/p>\n

He said the dialogue in Yambio is part of a nationwide initiative aimed at bringing civilians and members of the organised forces together to improve understanding, accountability, and cooperation.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we are in Yambio to create a platform for our men and women in uniform and our civilian population to have a conversation, to have a dialogue, and to get to know each other,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to the undersecretary, Pia Phillip, similar engagements have already been held in Malakal and Nimule, where they helped reduce fear and improve relations between communities and security personnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not starting here. We conducted the same dialogue in Malakal and in Nimule. After the engagement in Nimule, we found that communities who had been living in refugee camps started returning because they no longer feared their own sons and daughters in uniform,\u201d Pia explained.<\/p>\n

The official acknowledged that relations between civilians and security forces deteriorated following the outbreak of conflict in 2013, despite years of peaceful coexistence before the crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore 2013, we lived in peace with our men and women in uniform. We were together; there was no problem. We were friends; we danced together, prayed together, and lived as one community,\u201d Pia opined.<\/p>\n

He reminded members of the organised forces that their constitutional responsibility is to protect civilians and respect human rights, warning that abuses committed while in service could result in future legal accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur men and women in uniform must understand that with the mandate they have comes responsibility and accountability. If you violate human rights today, you will account for it tomorrow. Even after retirement, you can still be held accountable for actions that were not in line with the law and the rules of engagement,\u201d Pia said.<\/p>\n

The undersecretary also urged civilians to cooperate with security institutions by reporting criminals rather than viewing the organised forces as enemies.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to South Sudan\u2019s planned elections in December, he stressed that restoring public confidence in security institutions would encourage citizens to participate freely in the electoral process.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we move towards elections in December, we want people to go out and vote without fear. When they see soldiers at polling stations, they should feel protected, not intimidated,\u201d Pia said.<\/p>\n

The undersecretary reaffirmed the national government’s commitment to supporting peace efforts in Western Equatoria, saying the state has made encouraging progress in restoring stability.<\/p>\n

The civilian-military dialogue in Yambio is part of the Ministry of Peacebuilding’s national initiative to strengthen trust between communities and members of the organised forces.<\/p>\n

The program is being implemented with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women, and the Nonviolent Peace Force (NP) to promote peaceful coexistence, accountability, and respect for human rights.<\/p>\n

Relations between civilians and security forces in many parts of South Sudan deteriorated following the outbreak of the 2013 conflict, with allegations of human rights violations, displacement, and mistrust affecting community-security relations.<\/p>\n

The government and its partners have since been promoting dialogue, civic education, and professional conduct among the organised forces as part of broader peacebuilding efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sabri Dibaco The undersecretary in the National Ministry of Peacebuilding has called for stronger cooperation between civilians and the organised forces, saying rebuilding trust between communities and security personnel is essential for sustaining peace and ensuring credible elections in December. Speaking during a Peace Community Cohesion Project, Pia Phillip[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":46111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/The-Undersecretary-in-the-National-Ministry-of-Peacebuilding-posed-for-a-group-photo-with-civilians-and-organized-forces-photo-by-ZiaZiako-Emmanuel.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46112,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46110\/revisions\/46112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}