Today is the deadline for the signing of a peace deal between South Sudan's current president, Salva Kiir, and an opposition leader, Riek Machar, or else the country faces the possibiilty of economic sanctions, the BBC explains.
Miami Heat player Luol Deng—a South Sudanese native who came to the U.S. to attend high school—posted three messages on Instagram expressing optimism that there would be soon be peace in the war-torn country.
South Sudan is the world's newest country, having seceded from Sudan and gaining its independence in 2011. There's been fighting among warring ethnic groups ever since. Deng particularly called for the violence against children to end.
Mapping out a plan for peace has been in the works for years, and Deng urged the country's leaders to forge a peace strategy that will work and that all parties will adhere to.
Kudos to this NBA player for using his platform to shed light on an ongoing conflict that has claimed too many innocent lives.
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Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features video interviews with scarily insightful people. Follow Lectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.
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