“Impartial, fact-based reporting underpins democracy, and ensures transparency in the institutions of government. It encourages the people to question the authorities and seek the truth, for without truth there is no trust.”

The Deputy Chairperson added, “We need to continue the dialogue on peace, reach out to communities to explain the facts of the peace process, discover what they know and dispel rumours and untruths.”

The workshop that targeted at least 100 journalists attached to local and international media houses was organized in collaboration with Journalists for Human Rights (JHR).

It was aimed at giving an update on the Peace Process as well as we well as impart skills on how to write reconciliation stories and promote human rights.

“We must encourage the people to talk about their experiences, fears and expectations. Inclusivity is not simply all the Parties to the Conflict; it is about all the people of South Sudan, rich and poor, young and old, alike,” Ambassador Njoroge said.

In the closing remarks, the JMEC Deputy Chairperson said, 

“There will be no long term peace without reconciliation and inter- communal integration. In your reporting, you must be able to ask; what does that mean to a simple woman who has lost her children or to young men who have never known a life without fighting? How will the people come to terms with the awful damage that has afflicted the country for the past five years?”

He lauded the role and space women in South Sudan are given in the ongoing revitalization of the Peace Agreement.

“The Parties have agreed on representation of women at the highest level. Of the proposed four Vice Presidents, one will be a Woman. Women will also make up thirty- five percent of the National Executive. This is indeed encouraging, that women can play an integral role in the peace building efforts in South Sudan,” he said.