November 7th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – The Troika countries (United States, United Kingdom and Norway) have threatened that it won’t accept any unilateral actions that would derail the ongoing peace process.
The Troika in a statement today said the parties to revitalized peace agreement must first resolve all the outstanding issues before they could form the Reconstituted Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU).
South Sudan parties are facing a Tuesday deadline in which they are required – as per a May extension of the pre-transitional period – to form the long-awaited unity government.
President Salva Kiir threatened in September that it will form the government on November 12th as agreed by the parties even if main armed opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny was to be excluded.
Machar and his NDM counterpart, Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin, threatened to opt out of the unity government Kiir said he would form without them unless a unified army, police, national security is established as provided for in the revitalized agreement.
“We have heard the commitment from all parties to the permanent ceasefire. We expect the parties to make these commitments explicit and public. We have reinforced the fundamental importance of avoiding a return to armed conflict – any outstanding issues should be resolved through dialogue and compromise,” the statement seen by the Nyamilepedia dated November 7th partly read.
The statement welcomed the face-to-face meeting which is being conducted in Ugandan’s Entebbe city saying similar meetings should continue to foster understanding between the two bitter enemies whose wrangling over the leadership of the ruling SPLM led to the ongoing civil war in December 2013.
“We welcome the fact that President Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar will be meeting face to face this week to discuss the many outstanding issues and hope this will become more regular and include all the signatories of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS),” the statement said.
“We recognize the region’s leadership, and welcome IGAD’s initiative to bring all the parties back together in Addis. It is important that these meetings provide the clarity necessary to allow people across the country to retain confidence in this process,” it added.
It further warned that “Any unilateral action is against the agreement and the spirit of the peace process.”
The statement called on the parties to settle all the outstanding issues that are provided for in the 2018 peace agreement so as to avoid the return to civil war.
