UNITED NATIONS, June 25 -- The UN envoy for South Sudan said Tuesday that the South Sudanese's desire for peace is palpable and urged the country's politicians to respond to it.
UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for South Sudan David Shearer told the Security Council that "the desire for peace is palpable and there is a fierce aversion to any renewal of fighting."
The strong desire for peace is echoed in results of a Perception Survey carried out by UNMISS, the UN peacekeeping mission that Shearer leads in the country.
While the survey, which interviewed 2,400 people in 10 locations, exposed shocking impact of the conflict -- 79 percent of the interviewed reported members of their family had been killed; the same proportion reported family members forced to flee violence, it showed 89 percent of the interviewed believe there will be lasting peace by the end of this year.
Shearer also noted that since the peace agreement was signed in September, more than 110 rapprochements have occurred in communities around the country.
However, the UN envoy said the pace of dialogue and peacebuilding at the grassroots level is moving much faster than amongst the elites negotiating nationally, thus urging South Sudanese politicians to "listen to the mood of the people and follow the lead set by these local communities."
Particularly, he pointed to the sluggish security reform and unification of armed forces, as well as the lack of regular face-to-face meetings between South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar.
"If at a local level, former bitter enemies can put the past behind them and reconcile, their national leaders must do the same," he stressed.
As the negotiators decided in May to delay the formation of the transitional government until November, Shearer said the United Nations and the regional mediators are "strongly unified in our position that the six-month extension must be the last one."
Urging a transitional government be formed on time, he said "we accept some tasks may not be entirely complete by November ... There are no pre-transitional tasks that cannot be achieved within a unified transitional administration."
In his briefing to the Security Council, the UN envoy also noted a large number of refugees have voluntarily returned to South Sudan, and more and more displaced persons wish to return home.
He stressed about 7 million South Sudanese are still facing crisis or worse but food security is seeing improvements with UN humanitarian partners reaching more areas due to the relative calm following the September deal.
South Sudan descended into civil war in late 2013 and the conflict has created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world.
The UN estimates that about 4 million South Sudanese have been displaced internally and externally.
A peace deal signed in August 2017 collapsed following renewed violence in the capital Juba in July 2016.
On Sept. 12, 2018, the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan was signed in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, which has led to relative calm in South Sudan.
Under the new deal, opposition leader Riek Machar will once again be reinstated as President Salva Kiir's deputy.