President Yoweri Museveni has urged the people of South Sudan to embrace unity for prosperity and development warning that the misuse of identity can paralyze and endanger their nation.

“There are three problems; misuse of identity. This can paralyze and endanger any nation. Why insist on identity at the expense of other people. The issue of identity broke up Sudan,” he said at the launch of South Sudan’s National dialogue and swearing in of the steering committee members.

The President arrived in the South Sudan Capital Juba direct from Dar es Salaam where he assumed the EAC chairmanship, to attend the ceremony at the invitation of President Salva Kiir.

The launch was held at the Freedom Hall in Juba under the theme: ‘Redefining the basis of our unity and sense of common purpose through the national dialogue’.

“Yes identity is important but it can be misused. Why are you not concerned about prosperity, about common interests? Emphasizing identity and forgetting common interests is very dangerous. Our other disadvantage is backwardness in technology and science,” he said.

The President said he came to Juba to lend his support to the effort to promote dialogue for peace.

A 94-member steering committee for national dialogue was sworn in to start the work of bringing harmony and peace to the people of South Sudan. The committee co-chaired by H.E Molana Abel Alier and H.E Angelo Beda Bangboru comprises of distinguished members of the country including religious leaders and professionals as well as politicians. Among them is Mrs. Rebecca de Mabior, widow to fallen leader of South Sudan John Garang De Mabior.

The National dialogue initiated by President Kiir is both a forum and process through which the people South Sudan shall gather to redefine the basis of their unity as it relates to nationhood, redefine citizenship and belonging, as well as restructure the state for national inclusion.

President Museveni who was chief guest commended President Salva Kiir for initiating the national dialogue and called on the people of South Sudan to support SPLM.

“SPLM is a strong movement and has respect of the people of South Sudan that is why it won by over 99 percent. Where did you get all that support…the Dinkas, Nuer and people from Equatorial province. How can you let them down? This is very good political capital which you cannot squander, you should revive SPLM and weed out all those subversive ideas, ” he said.

The President also warned against tolerating impunity in cases of killings, rape and defilement especially by armed forces calling for strict discipline to gain the confidence of the masses.

In his speech, President Salva Kiir congratulated the committee and the secretariat for accepting the national duty and said “the people of South Sudan look up to you to help deliver peace and reconciliation among them.”

President Kiir also called upon national leaders to embrace the spirit of national unity and join the national dialogue so as to end the violence in the country.

He also declared a unilateral ceasefire to create an environment for an inclusive dialogue and to facilitate the movement of humanitarian aid to famine stricken areas.

“Declaring national dialogue was based on our belief that solutions to the internal conflict in South Sudan are within our reach and that we are ultimately responsible for resolving our internal matters. We have witnessed that imposed solutions can divide and sow seeds of hate and fear among us. It is imperative that we, as south Sudanese, take responsibility for brining lasting peace to our beloved nation,” he said.

The national dialogue shall undergo three different stages; the first phase shall largely deal with grass root consultations to map out grievances that are unique to each community. The second step will be to convene regional peace conferences and the third and final stage will be to convene national conference which will tackle the remaining issues that will not have been addressed at the subnational level as well as adoption of resolutions made.

President Kiir said that the Presidency remains committed to provide guidance and leadership through moral, political and financial support to the committee.

“As your government, we are taking charge of our country and we are taking full responsibility for ending the on-going crises, including the war, famine and economic challenges we are facing,” he said.

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The president of war-ravaged South Sudan declared a unilateral ceasefire and promised to release political prisoners, but with no sign of a political deal with rebels it was not clear whether a truce would take hold.

South Sudan has been mired in a civil war since 2013, when President Salva Kiir fired his deputy, Riek Machar. The conflict, fanned by ethnic rivalries, has sparked Africa’s worst refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide and plunged part of the country into famine.

“I directed the prosecutor general to immediately review the cases of those who have committed crime against the state, commonly known as political prisoners, and ensure the necessary steps taken are taken to lead their release,” Kiir said in a speech in the capital, Juba. He added: “I am also declaring unilateral ceasefire effective from today.”

South Sudan analysts expressed scepticism that Kiir’s announcement would lead to long-lasting peace.

Kiir has declared ceasefires before and he has yet to release any political prisoners, said Alan Boswell, a South Sudan expert who authored a paper for the Small Arms Survey on the most recent failed peace deal in 2016.

Kiir’s speech offered no hint that he was willing to negotiate with the disparate rebel groups, the largest of which is led by Machar, Boswell said. Machar is an ethnic Nuer while Kiir is a Dinka.

In April 2016 the United States and other Western nations backed a peace accord that saw Machar return to the capital and again share power with Kiir. But the deal fell apart less than three months later and Machar and his supporters fled the capital, pursued by helicopter gunships.

Since then, the conflict has become increasingly fractured, with a patchwork of ethnic militias fighting in different parts of the oil-producing country.

“There’s no good incentive for the opposition movements to put down their guns because they’re not being offered any political settlement,” Boswell said.

The UN has warned the ethnic violence spill into genocide.

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