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The Women’s Monthly Forum Group in South Sudan has told South Sudan Catholic radio station, Radio Bakhita, that the women of South Sudan are disappointed and frustrated by the slow pace of implementing the peace agreement signed by the warring parties last August.

Women’s Monthly Forum Group Coordinator, Sunday Betty Ben, speaking Thursday in Juba said the situation in South Sudan was getting worse, and the warring parties to the agreement were not doing enough to implement the deal; she told Radio Bakhita.

She urged the parties to accelerate the implementation of the agreement to enable peace return to South Sudan.

Sunday Betty Ben said the Women’s Monthly Forum Group is also seeking ways to make sure that South Sudan women are conversant with the details of the peace accord. It is only in doing so that the women, as South Sudanese citizens, would own and buy into the August agreement.

In spite of assurances by both the South Sudan government of President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, the two warring sides have been accused by the international community of procrastination. Hopes were raised in February when Salva Kiir re-appointed his arch-rival Riek Machar as first vice president of a possible government of national unity. Riek Machar has not yet taken up the appointment and is still living outside the capital, Juba.

The warring parties insist they are committed to the peace deal in spite of not adhering to strict deadlines and the terms of the accord.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, last month, urged the leaders of South Sudan to respect the conditions of the peace agreement that would end two years of a brutal conflict that has killed thousands. Thousands more remain displaced as a result of the war.

"Respecting the terms of the peace agreement is not an option, it is a must," Ban Ki-moon told the media last month.

The conflict has resulted in South Sudan facing severe food shortages and raised the possibility of famine if the international community does not come to the aid of South Sudan. There is also the need to protect the population from attacks by government forces and rebel militia. South Sudan is also awash with lawless marauding armed gangs that terrorise citizens.

South Sudan became the world’s newest state in July 2011 after gaining independence from Sudan via a protracted armed struggle. That struggle eventually led to a referendum and then independence. 18 months later, the independence dream unravelled as Salva Kiir and Riek Machar's political battles split the country along ethnic lines leading to a two-year brutal conflict.

(Source: CRN in Juba; additional reporting Vatican Radio, English Africa Service)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va)

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