Kiir blames “our attitude” for civil war, lawlessness

JUBA – South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, has blamed what he says is “our attitude” towards the constitution, for the conflict, saying the 2013 crisis which triggered one of the most bloody civil wars could have been avoided had politicians respected the constitution.

In his keynote remarks during the closing session of the National Dialogue Conference in Juba on Tuesday, Kiir said the 2013 crisis would have been avoided if members of the ruling SPLM party respected the laws.

“Take the 2013 crisis, this crisis would have been avoided if we respected what the law has stipulated. The elections were two years away and because of our poor attitude towards our institutions, some of us decided it was okay to attempt to take power when the mechanism we have adopted for peaceful transfer of power was two years away,” he said.

“The SPLM government created the constitution, which was violated because of our attitude. We forgot that the way we interact with our institutions promote or retard their development,” he added.

The South Sudanese head of state stressed that the ruling SPLM party did not take up arms to fight for personal gains, buy to liberate the people of South Sudan.

“Most of the failures that this national conversation has blamed on the SPLM leadership are rooted in our attitude as people,” he expressed.

He explained that what determines progress in any society is the attitude of its population towards its guiding laws and regulations.

“The laws in our books are comparable to what exist in other countries but have we really followed what these laws say. Has our attempt to enforce the law been welcomed in certain quarters?” he questioned.