The Government of Lakes State, UNMISS, and the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) on Tuesday launched the construction of an office building to house the state peacebuilding ministry in Rumbek.
The development is funded under UNMISS’ Quick Impact Projects and will be implemented by CEPO.
Daniel Laat Kon, the CEPO coordinator in Lakes State, said the project is important because it will help the ministry to conduct peacebuilding initiatives across the state.
“The ministry of peacebuilding is going to support the Lakes State community to conduct conflicts resolutions, and that is why the ministry needs to have office space. The ministry made the request long ago, and we are happy that they will have offices after we have completed construction,” he said. “There will be three offices and a meeting Hall. We are also going to construct a two-door pit latrine and install solar power.”
“We are very grateful to UNMISS for supporting us to do this, and we thank the Government of Lakes State for giving us this opportunity to continue working for the people,” Laat added.
For her part, Suzan Anguec Okello, a UNMISS protection officer based in Wau, said she was honored to witness the commencement of the construction works.
“In our section of Protection, Transformation and Reintegration (PTR), we work very closely in monitoring and implementing quick impact projects across Greater Bahr el Ghazal,” she said. “As my colleague Benjamin said before, this is not the only project UNMISS is providing; we have several other projects here and in Aweil, Warrap, and Western Bahr el Ghazal this year. We are grateful that the previous team of Lakes State came up with this proposal to UNMISS to construct the Ministry of Peacebuilding.”
“I hope that we will come back here in three months to hand over this project to the ministry so that they can have a conducive working environment,” Anguec added.
She thanked Peace Canal and other UNMISS partners for supporting the people and Government of Lakes State to ensure that peace prevails in the state.
Meanwhile, Stephen Mathiang Deng, the state’s minister of cabinet affairs, said peace is a foundation for development.
“You cannot do anything without peace; that is why we are begging our partners to give support. It is because of the absence of peace that we have this financial crisis. So, peace is above all,” he said. “On behalf of the governor, I would like to give special thanks to UNMISS for responding to the call from the Ministry of Peacebuilding. I also thank the partners present, like Peace Canal and CEPO, because they have done a lot. They have struggled a lot together with the government to make sure this state is at peace.”
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