By Roger Alfred Yoron Modi
November 25th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – While emphasizing the need to work on a roadmap and implementation plan to ensure the timely completion of pending pre-transitional tasks of the R-ARCSS, the IGAD Council of Ministers in its Communiqué of 10th November 2019 instructed the IGAD Special Envoy for South Sudan in collaboration with R-JMEC, CTSAMVM and the African Union Commission to urgently organize a workshop for security mechanisms in Juba to agree on a roadmap with a clear timeline for the implementation of Transitional Security Arrangements within the one hundred (100) days extension.
The Communiqué of the IGAD Council of Ministers came as a follow up to the Tripartite Summit convened by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, and attended by President Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Al-Burhan and the leader of SPLM/A Dr Riek Machar on 7th November in Entebbe.
On 17th November, pursuant to the IGAD Council’s instructions, the Office of the IGAD Special Envoy for South Sudan and RJMEC declared convening a Joint Security Mechanisms Workshop in Juba, on the 18th – 19th November 2019, with “focus on producing a costed work plan and matrix with specific timelines and responsibilities that conform to the agreed upon one hundred (100) days extension.”
The objectives of the workshop, according to an RJMEC invite was to, among others: determine the outstanding tasks that need to be accomplished by the security mechanisms and the NPTC within the next 100 days including to:
- Identify, prioritize, sequence and cost critical tasks that must be accomplished by each mechanism;
- Determine specific timelines for the accomplishment of each task within the one hundred (100) days;
- Develop more effective coordination within and between the Mechanisms, as well as the NPTC;
- Provide revised budgets for the agreed activities to the NPTC and Mechanism; and
- Determine capacity building needs and explore areas of potential support from the IGAD, RJMEC, CTSAMVM, AU, UNMISS, and other partner nations.
The Workshop was indeed conducted on 18th and 19th November as scheduled but its resolutions have not been published.
On budget and financial constraints facing the implementation of key Pre-Transitional tasks, during the closing of the Workshop, RJMEC Interim Chairperson Amb. Augostino Njoroge said: “I would like to remind all of you of the need to fine-tune your budgets and keep them realistic, and to implement activities according to principles of transparency and accountability.”
Whereas speaking during the first day of the Workshop, the IGAD Special Envoy Amb. Ismail Wais noted that the new 100-days timeframe offers another opportunity for the planning and execution of the pending tasks and urged the participants to plan for 60 days instead “to avoid any risk of missing deadlines due to upcoming holidays and weekends.”
It is against the above background and the need to ensure adherence with schedules that the Special Envoy of Igad for South Sudan Amb. Wais and RJMEC should publish the resolutions reached by the Security Mechanisms during the two-day Workshop.
Roger Alfred Yoron Modi, a South Sudanese journalist, is a former Editor-in-Chief of Radio Bakhita and Managing Editor of Juba Monitor Newspaper living in exile. He previously worked for, among other media houses, The Citizen Newspaper and freelance for The Nation Mirror Newspaper both of which have been shut down by the National Security Service. He has a background in law. He can be reached via rogeryoron@gmail.com or his twitter handle @RogerYoronModi
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