October 20th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan holdout opposition leaders who are leading opposition groups fighting the government of President Salva Kiir have rejected calls for unity government formation in November calling for a new platform to renegotiate the agreement.
The South Sudan Opposition Movements, an alliance of the Real SPLM led by Pagan Maum, National Salvation Front (NAS) led by General Thomas Cirillo and South Sudan United Front (SSUF) led by General Paul Malong said in the statement dated October 19th that any formation of government in November would be an endorsement of the status quo.
“The hasty calls for the establishment of the R-TGoNU in less than 4 weeks’ time, is an endorsement of the status quo and undermines the suffering of our people and their demands for reform,” the statement extended to Nyamilepedia partly reads.
“The Alliance strongly believes that the wrongful and hasty formation of any new transitional government under the leadership of Salva Kiir Mayardit, and without addressing the fundamental root causes of the conflict is another recipe for a return to full-blown violence in South Sudan; as was witnessed in July 2016 – with the death of over 700 people in the capital, Juba,” the statement added.
The statement further said there were signals since the beginning of the High-Level Revitalization Forum (HLRF) that the process was flawed and would result to a peace agreement which would not be inclusive.
“We believe from the very beginning of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development’s (IGAD) High Level Revitalization Forum (HLRF), that the process for negotiating the R-ARCSS was flawed,” the statement said.
“It hasinevitably, therefore, led to a flawed and non-inclusive peace agreement, which failed to address the fundamental root causes of the crisis of governance, justice and accountability and leadership in South Sudan,” the statement added.
The statement further called for a new platform for the renegotiation of the agreement which would be inclusive and end the ongoing civil war once and for all.
“In this regard, the South Sudan Opposition Movements alliance is appealing to the UNSC, the African Union, and the IGAD countries, to provide a new platform for renegotiating the R-ARCSS, so as to address all of the above issues. A new platform to make the R-ARCSS fully inclusive,” the statement said
“It is only in this way that a durable, genuine, and just peace can be realized in South Sudan. This will not come about via the formation of an incomplete and non-inclusive transitional government that is being forced upon the long-suffering and downtrodden people of South Sudan, yet again,” the statement added.
