Manitoba's South Sudanese 'devastated' over violence, rallies for justice

The South Sudanese community stood together for a rally in Winnipeg at the steps of the Manitoba legislature Saturday, holding signs and chanting over what they said was the deaths of their co-nationals at the hands of the eastern African country's government. 

"It took us more than 25 years to get to where we wanted to be — have an independent country, but seeing this happening now in our country, it just breaks our heart," said Martino Laku, one of roughly 30 people who gathered at the rally. 

Laku moved to Winnipeg in the early 2000s, but the majority of his family still lives in South Sudan and he fears for their safety daily. 

"This is happening in certain areas … but tomorrow could be somewhere else," he said. "It starts small and engulfs the entire country." 

In early March, an airstrike by South Sudan's airforce killed at least 19 people in the country's east, residents said, less than two weeks after government forces withdrew from the area following fighting with the White Army, an ethnic militia.

The country stood on the brink of relapsing into a widespread conflict in recent weeks, according to a UN peacekeeping mission, after the detention of First Vice President Riek Machar, accused by the country's government of stoking rebellion, including collaborating with the White Army.

South Sudan's civil war — fought between forces loyal to Machar and his rival, South Sudan's President Salva Kiir — left hundreds of thousands of people dead in the eastern African country. 

The conflict that spanned between 2013 and 2018 ended with the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan.

Machar's party has condemned the leader's detention as a "blatant violation" that "abrogated" the agreement, arguing that it could jeopardize the prospect for peace and stability in the country. 

"We are devastated," Souka Lofoni, a South Sudanese community member who has been living in Winnipeg for the past 20 years, said at the rally. "They're being bombed. They've been displaced from their houses."

"Their government is killing its own people within its own country, and to make it worse, there are foreign countries that are involved," Lofoni said.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni arrived in South Sudan on Thursday. The neighbouring country's army was invited into South Sudan last month to help secure South Sudan's capital and, during the civil war, backed President Kiir's forces. 

"His presence in South Sudan endangers the peace process," Peter Jack, one of the rally organizers, told CBC on Saturday.

Jack and others at the rally said they wanted to spread awareness and bring attention to the situation unravelling in their home country with the intent of getting the Canadian government to weigh in on the international community's response by condemning the resurgence of violence, as it has with conflicts in other countries.

"Canada should put the voice to end the suffering in South Sudan," Lofoni said. "Our people have been killed and we don't see a strong statement that can help … stop our government from doing this." 

Others at the rally said international support isn't the sole help needed for the country to enjoy peace. 

"Self-determinations … our commitment to peace, that's what's going to bring [it]," Laku said. "If the people are really committed and they're able to work together for the development of the country."