The embassy of the United States in Juba has urged all the parties in South Sudan to help in silencing the guns in the country.

“It does not matter if you are a soldier or civilian, and what state or tribe you are from. All parties, whether signatories to peace agreements and the Rome accords or not, share equal responsibility for stopping the fighting,” the US embassy said in a statement issued on Friday.

It also appealed to all leaders in the country to be responsible and exercise control as part of efforts aimed at ending gun violence.

“It is time to silence the sound of gunfire so that the words of peace, reconciliation, and nation-building can be heard loudly and clearly throughout your great country,” it noted.

According to the statement, the ongoing fighting in South Sudan is now interfering with the ability to deliver humanitarian aid and assistance to help the most vulnerable of your citizens with deliveries of food, shelters, medical supplies, where it is urgently needed. 

“All of these services are the responsibility of a government to its people and should be clearly reflected in a national budget that is transparent and free for all to see,” further stressed the statement.

It added, “Floods, locusts, and disease; there are enough natural disasters plaguing the suffering people of South Sudan, without adding the plague of greed, and short-sightedness of the individuals who hold power and may have forgotten what it was like not to know from where their next meal would come.”