October 26th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) on Friday urged the parties to resolve outstanding issues which are now threatening the revitalized peace agreement.
President Salva Kiir’s government said last month that it will form the reconstituted unity government on November 12 even if it would mean the exclusion of important signatories such as Machar’s main armed opposition group, SPLM-IO.
Last Sunday, a UN delegation visited Juba and urged the parties to meet the November 12th deadline while calling on the parties to resolve the pending issues before that date.
Machar’s SPLM-IO has made it very clear that it would not participate in the upcoming unity government if the outstanding issues are not resolved.
It said to ensure a stable transition, the country must have in place a unified army, police and a unified national security service tasked with overseeing the country’s security during the 36-months transitional period.
Speaking in Juba during the commemoration of the 74th UN day, David Shearer, the head of UNMISS and Special Representative of the Secretary General, said talk should shift from November 12th deadline to the outstanding issues.
“We know that 100 percent of the pre-transitional tasks will not be met in two weeks, but that does not mean we should give up and sit back. Collectively, together we have the responsibility to maintain momentum so that the transformative process that begins with the signing of the agreement 13 months ago will be fully realized,” Shearer said.
“For the last few days it’s very much been on the date of November 12 and much less airtime is given to the outstanding issues of the peace agreement,” Shearer added.
Shearer urged the parties to avoid the use of violence as the mean of addressing the country’s problems and said democratic means should be instead the only way to addressing these political issues.
“It is that opportunity to resolve differences through democratic rather than violent means and give citizens their rights to select their leaders and hold them to account,” he said.
