Sep 30, 2020(Nyamilepedia) — The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has announced on Tuesday that the peace deal, dubbed as Revitalized Agreement of the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan(R-ARCISS), is stuck and that urgent actions are needed to try to move the process forward.
“At the moment, the process is stuck. It hasn’t moved past the first stage where forces are trained and graduated. Urgent action is needed to move this process forward.” Siad David Shearer.
Speaking during a press briefing on Tuesday, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, David Shearer, said that the pandemic is not entirely to blame as the peace process has been limping all along.
“COVID-19 has slowed down the peace process, but the pandemic is not entirely to blame. The peace process – and the peace agreement – is limping along. It needs to move much faster.” Said shearer.
The SRSG added that a fresh life and momentum need to be breathed into the peace process to get it going.
Shearer is concerned that these tactical delayments will also delay elections and that raises the question of whether the South Sudanese politicians have political will and spirit to implement the peace deal to rescue their people from all the suffering they are facing or not.
“My concern about the delay is that it risks pushing elections out well beyond the timeline of the agreement. This will add to the growing disillusionment amongst communities about whether the political will exists to give South Sudanese citizens the opportunity to choose their leaders.” Shearer noted.
The UN envoy noted that even though the transitional government is functioning with activities well underway within the cluster of ministries the progress has been slow.
“Progress has been slow in other areas as well. The cabinet is meeting irregularly, and people tell me that they would like to see the President and Vice Presidents meeting more often and more closely together. The Transitional National Legislative Assembly is yet to be reconstituted, so necessary new laws are not being passed, and progress on the constitution has been delayed.” He added.
The united nations representative finalized on the subject by saying that he is pleased to see the resumption of talks between the Government and the hold-out groups in Rome beginning from next week as part of a process mediated by Sant’Egidio.
He urged all parties to come to that meeting with a genuine willingness to secure durable peace.
