Do South Sudanese know what is in the peace agreement?

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit and now First Vice President Riek Machar Teny, signed the peace deal to end the 26-month conflict which has killed tens of thousands of citizens and displaced more than two million. A series of briefings are informing the public about the contents of the peace agreement.

Stephen Asega Wakeremo, a citizen, says he is aware that the deal has been signed, but does not know what it contains. “We did not see even the document,” he says, after participating in one of the public briefings held in Yei.

But he said citizens would notice when the parties translate the deal’s contents into actions. “There should be real implementation of the peace itself. When it (the peace agreement) is put into action you know that real peace will come into our country. People are just wondering, what is going on,” says Asega.

Many South Sudanese, are prevented from reading and understanding the document as there are few copies and illiteracy is widespread. The peace document has been translated into Arabic, Dinka, Nuer and Shilluk.

South Sudan has over sixty ethnic groups with different languages. The Dinka are the largest group, Nuer second largest while Azande and Bari also form a significant part of the population.

Some literate citizens read news reports about the peace agreement on print and electronic media while others heard about it on broadcast media.

Modo Rose, another citizen, depends on listening to radio or conversations with colleagues to find out about the agreement. “It is difficult to confirm, whether information is true or false,” says Modo.

Modo, who speaks the Bari language, says the copies of the agreement should be translated into more languages and made accessible to all citizens. “If it is written in the Bari language, I can read it by myself. Because sometimes you won’t understand what someone tells you, or sometimes the person may distort the meaning of the content.”

But with support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through Democracy International, Modo was able to attend some public briefings held by civil society organisations in Yei.

Many people are not aware about the contents of the agreement, she says, adding that once the agreement is translated into all the respective local languages in the country, it should be distributed.

“If they do not reach the county, the payam and boma level, then few of us will know what is in the peace agreement,” she says.

Though some citizens like Modo, could get information about the peace process through radio, the biting economic crisis prevents many from being able to afford the technology. Rose Aputu, for instance can seldom buy batteries given her family’s other pressing needs.

“Prices are going up. If you go to the market, a meter of soap which cost four South Sudanese Pound is now 25. For us who bring up children, we are suffering much. I cannot listen to radio because you have to buy a battery at for ten pounds and there is no money,” says Aputu.

While many people are yearning for peace to return, citizens lauded recent developments towards implementation, including the new cabinet, the arrival of Riek Machar and other members of SPLM-IO in Juba such as Alfred Ladu Gore, the party’s deputy chairman.

Some hope that the Transitional Government of National Unity could spell the end of rampant killings, robberies and looting committed by unknown gunmen along highways and in towns, according to Anthony Angutuwa, another citizen.

He noted increasing cases of gunmen in Yei, Lainya, Morobo and Kajokeji counties – causing fear to citizens on roads. “We fought for liberation, so that South Sudan will live well, have roads constructed, better schools and with oil available in order to make a bright future for our children. What is again causing us to kill ourselves? Let us end these killings,” he says.

Benson Khemis Soro, a human rights activist for the Community Empowerment for Rehabilitation and Development organisation, says censorship against media houses in reporting progress on the implementation of the peace agreement is a key concern. He says that this censorship limits dissemination of the contents of the deal.

Benson says the language used to write the agreement should be broken down into simple English for ordinary citizens to understand. “Few people understand, but now come to understanding the content of the agreement in terms of analysis, it is very difficult for the standard of education that we have currently,” he notes.

“They are not able to do anything because they don’t know what is in the content of the agreement”, he says of the citizens’ role in peace implementation.

In Yei River State, civil society and community based organisations have been empowered with skills on how to disseminate the content of the agreement to citizens in both rural and urban areas. Democracy International trained them as trainers to cover the all counties.

A civic education officer for Democracy International, Innocent Aduja, says the CSOs and CBOs “have come up with strategies so that this peace agreement can be disseminated right to the people who need it”.