October 15th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s incumbent, Salva Kiir Mayardiit, has failed to fulfill his promise that he will respect the revitalized agreement which he signed with opposition groups in Addis Ababa Ethiopia last month according to the SPLM-IO led by the former First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon.
In a statement issued on Sunday by the group’s Chairman of the National Committee for Foreign Relations, Stephen Par Kuol, the group argued that the government has not released the political detainees and has not ratified the peace agreement, something they said has been done by all opposition groups that were signatories to the September 12 agreement.
“The SPLM/A (IO) leadership is issuing this press statement to inform the IGAD, AU, UN, TRIOKA and the R-ARCSS guarantors that despite promises and public pronouncements by President Salva Kiir Mayardit to implement R-ARCSS, the regime has been violating all the agreements since December 2017,” said the statement dated October 14th 2018.
The group pointed to the reluctance of the government to release political detainees, which they said violates the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA) signed in December 2017 as well as the revitalized ARCiSS signed in Addis Ababa on September 12th.
According to the opposition, instead of working to achieved peace as per the 2017 COHA, the government has been abducting senior members of the SPLM-IO and continued to pursue war and violence.
“In violation of both COHA and R-ARCSS, Kiir’s regime has refused to release the SPLM/A (IO) Prisoners of War (POWs), Abductees and Political Detainees. Instead of implementing the COHA, the regime continued with its military offensive and abduction of the SPLM (IO) cadres in Kenya. One of those kidnapped from the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya and taken to South Sudan by the Juba regime operatives was Mr. Marko Lokidor after the COHA was signed,” the statement further said.Â
The statement further said despite public assurance by President Salva Kiir Mayardiit that he will be committed to achieving peace, he has failed to keep his promises as the government has not ratify the agreement that has been ratified by the SPLM-IO and other armed and non-armed groups.
“The world and South Sudanese must know that despite the public calls for the implementation of the agreement in letter and spirit, Kiir has failed to keep his promises and even deliberately failed to ratify the R-ARCSS until the time we have come to the press,” the statement said.
