October 27th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan parties to the revitalized peace agreement have been urged to resolve all the outstanding issues before they could form a unity government in November.
South Sudan protest group – the Red Card Movement – says outstanding issues are threatening the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement and will likely delay the formation of the revitalized unity government.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit and opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar last week failed to agree on how to resolve the outstanding issues during a meeting in Juba where a delegation of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was also presence.
While Kiir threatened to go on with the unity government formation in November, Machar’s main armed opposition group, SPLM-IO, and Dr. Lam Akol’s NDM, said they won’t be part of the government unless outstanding issues are settled.
Machar said for a stable transition to be ensured, there must be a unified army, police, and a unified national security service in place to avoid the repeat of scenarios such as that of 2016 in which forces belonging to him and President Kiir fought at a presidential palace in Juba leading to collapse of a 2015 peace agreement.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Red Card Movement urged the parties to ensure that all the outstanding issues are implemented saying peace efforts in the young nation is being hampered by the political class.
“The Red Card Movement would like to bring to the attention of the South Sudanese people, the United Nations, United States, European Union, African Union, IGAD and the general public that the prospects of a viable and sustainable peace in South Sudan are being hampered day by day by the political class through incomprehensible tactics,” the statement partly reads.
“These tactics are meant to delay the implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), and indeed to prolong the current sad state of affairs in the country,” the statement added.
“Yesterday while speaking to a gathering of South Sudanese people in Alberta, Canada the Deputy Chairman of SPLA-IO, Henry Odwar, made rather an outrageous comment that the government of National Unity “will not be formed on November.”
“This pessimistic approach disregarded the continued suffering of citizens and portrays SPLA-IO leadership refusal to compromise on the debate surrounding the number of states. We stand to condemn this.
“On the same token we stand by our previous position and call on the government in Juba to critically think of the consequences of swindling this opportunity of bringing peace after the expiration of the extension period.
“So far, nothing substantive has been done by either party to show willingness of implementing the agreement. Apparently, the regime in Juba refusal to release funds has further implicated the implementation process such as the security arrangement.
“The regime continues to engage in aggressive military campaigns in parts of the country causing displacement of civilians, damage to property and livestock. We also stand to condemn the same.”
It added: “First, we are calling on international actors to now hold influential figures in the agreement individually accountable for any further suffering that may be occasioned on our people through the elite’s violent confrontations due to a possible failure to form the TGoNU in the stipulated time.
“Second, there’s now a great need to recognize the efforts of the youth in calling for good governance in the country based on the tenets of democracy.
“There is now every reason to rightly suspect that the agreement is not going to prosper, we still choose hope over despair and call on all signatories to action. Our country has been ravaged by war and its people shouldn’t be dragged into a clandestine warmongering every now and then.
“In a remarkable demonstration of rapid response diplomacy, the international community united behind an African-based mediation effort (IGAD) which brought the conflicting parties together for a power sharing agreement aimed at finding a political solution needs to be appreciated for their unwavering support for our people.
“We would like to warn all the parties to the agreement that there will be dire consequences for failure to implement as the young people of this country will respond unequivocally to any attempts meant to extend the suffering of our people.”
