South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has set aside March 10 as a National Prayer Day for peace and forgiveness, and urged citizens to turn out in high numbers to honour the day.
“As your leader and the Patron for the National Dialogue, I am obliged to release this public statement to inform all our citizens and friends about the planned National Day of Prayers that’s going to be held on March 10, 2017,” President Kiir said in a statement broadcast on the official (SSBC) TV and Radio and sent out to media houses on Wednesday.
South Sudan is reeling from a war that broke out in 2013 December after President Kiir accused his then deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against his government. Machar denied the allegations but then went on to mobilize a rebel force to fight the government.
A peace deal signed in 2015 has continually been violated by both factions, with the United Nations warning that the country risks sliding into a full genocide if an intervention is not conducted soon.
The war has killed thousands and displaced millions to neighbouring countries, with humanitarian agencies now worries that the continued influx of the refugees in neighbouring countries is straining the resources of the host nations.
President Kiir said the National Prayer Day will be held in all the states’ capitals as a preparation for the commencement of the processes of National Dialogue which the president announced in December 2016.
