a 1 __ Statement of H.E. the President on the Occasion of Easter Fellow citizens, the peace of the risen Lord be with you, On this occasion of Easter, lam extremely humbled by our Lord’s courageous actin facing death with dignity and obedience to the will of his father all for the sake of delivering us from our sins. There is no greatest expression of love that surpasses our Lord’s death on the cross as a symbol of his love for us. This Easter, fellow citizens, | want all of us to reflect on the significance and the value of Christ's death. We know from the Bible that Jesus came to the world as a Prince of peace and to reconcile the world and to reconcile man with God. At the core of his teaching was peace, love, and reconciliation. Nowhere in this world, where the mission of Christ of peace and reconciliation, is more relevant than in South Sudan. The people of South Sudan thirst for peace, reconciliation and love. We are commissioned by our Lord to love one another and work for peace among ourselves because those who work for peace are called the “children of God". As your leaders, we are working together to bring peace to our country, You are aware of the fact that | and all your leaders were invited by His Holiness, Pope Francis in the company of the Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace Justin Welby, as well as the former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, ‘the Very Reverend John Chalmers, for a spiritual retreat. I want to report to all of you how humbling and touching this experience was. The whole world was shocked when His Holiness knell down to kiss our feet. | was personally shocked and deeply touched and of course 1 trembled. Pope Francis’ action was the greatest expression of erie: SN ea a ete Sei arioheenuine Others.i that we can celebrate the trium Not only did I feel a great sense of reverence for His Holiness, | also strongly feel that what happened in Vatican will have indelible impact on the future of peace and stability in our beloved nation. It was unprecedented for the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator to get together to meditate and pray for our country. | now have a reason to believe the words of Prophet Isaiah's prophecy that the people from the land of Cush shall raise a flag on Mount Zion. The spiritual retreat was the greatest historical event in a sense that the Christian leaders have reminded the whole world that they care about South Sudan. Evidently, our young Republic became independent because Christians around the world stood with us. The last five years of violent conflict seemed to have pushed our Christian friends away ata time when we really needed their support. The three leaders of the Christian faith have completed much of our work in telling our fellow Christians around the world that South Sudan is a Christian majority country and should be supported to consolidate peace and alleviate suffering. We thank His Holiness for what was truly a piercing experience to the soul, the mind and the heart. Iwas convinced by the Christian leaders of the need to urgently bring peace to our people. In fact, | had assumed that we were all touched -by the spiritual message that we were all going to jump on the same plane from Rome to Juba so that we can quickly form a new government and use the papal message to bring peace among our people. Nothing could have b se eat gift to our people this Easter ‘than for Dr. Riek Machar and all opposition leaders to be in Juba so at wi of our Lord together and toI have said time and again, | will repeat it here again, that we signed the current Peace Agreement out of our own volition, and we are therefore committed fully to its implementation. Evidently, the Agreement has a lot of challenges, but we have the political will to deal with any challenges arising during its implementation. We should not be bogged down by trying to tick every box in order to move forward, we should keep our eyes on the price and that is the return of peace to our country. We should continue to dialogue, continue to make compromises and ensure that we make the “impossible, possible”. May the peace of our Lord touch us all during this Easter and may the unity and stability of our country rise with the risen Christ. God bless all of you and bless our beloved country. sepoeeeeoeTHE END eRe