New research says that South Sudanese women lack knowledge of the IGAD-mediated peace talks, describing their awareness of the talks as ‘strikingly low’.

The peace talks are mediated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a bloc of East African states. The mediators have suspended the talks since June, after the opposition refused to attend, citing objections to the selection of civil society participants.

Finnish organization Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) helped a group of women parliamentarians carry out community consultations on the peace talks in June and July in partnership with a local organization, South Sudan Democratic Engagement, Monitoring and Observation program (SSuDEMOP).

The MPs met hundreds of women during the consultations in the three states of Warrap, Central and Eastern Equatoria.

According to the findings of the process, South Sudanese women lack awareness about the IGAD peace talks. Those who know about the talks have “low confidence” in the process. 

“Levels of awareness about the talks was strikingly low, as was confidence in IGAD among those who knew more [about the talks],” the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus stated in a preliminary outcome document.

Women also expressed concern about unequal participation of women in the formal process.

The Women Parliamentarians' Caucus recommended that stakeholders should share more information about “the structure, participants, process, substance and results of the talks.”

Such information-sharing can be carried out through the churches, media and civil society, as well as the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus in the national legislature, the MPs recommended.

Transitional government

During the consultations, when asked about the proposed government of national unity, many of the women said such a body “should be a lean, technocratic government, with a mandate for 1—3 years.”

The transitional government should supervise the process of developing a new constitution, prepare and conduct national census and credible free and fair national elections.

The transitional government must initiate judiciary and law enforcement reforms, undertake security sector reform and provide basic services to the people as well as conducting national dialogue without compromising justice for victims of crimes committed during the fighting, according to the report.

Reconciliation and healing including truth-telling and compensation, accountability and how to combat corruption are some other recommendations women said should be taken into account.

“All the women shared sad and powerful stories of the immeasurable toll of conflict on themselves and their communities,” said Mary Ayen, the secretary of the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus.   

File photo: A group of displaced persons at the Bentiu PoC, January 2014 (Courtesy Photo/Radio Tamazuj)

Correction: As originally published, this article characterized CMI as the organization responsible for the 'research' and recommendations on this issue; in fact, the Women Parliamentarians' Caucus was responsible for the consultations, with support from CMI.

A number of changes have been made to the text of the article to more accurately characterize each partner's respective role.

In an e-mailed statement in response to this article, CMI has also noted that it would prefer the initiative be characterized as 'state-level consultations' rather than a research process per se, pointing out that the two are different in nature and methodology.