The 2018 Peace Agreement is already in Intensive care unit before the formation of the R-TGONU comes Nov 12

Opinion,

By Nhial Gatkuoth Chung,

Accra, Ghanda,

October 1, 2019(Nyamilepedia) — The recently revitalized South Sudan Peace agreement, the R-ARCSS that was signed on the 12th of September, 2018 in Khartoum, Sudan is passing through turbulent lanes. The fate of the agreement, in the hands of the so called leaders, is crystal clear that it will not see light as it’s being slowly driven into the intensive care unit due to number of issues that remain unresolved.

Some parts of the document are practically ignored, compromised and strangled as we are approaching the formation of the R-TGONU comes Nov 12th. There are a number of outstanding issues that have not been put in place as stipulated in the R- ARCISS. 

The security arrangement which is the most critical part in the agreement was intentionally played off as the government has been dragging its feet in the implementation process, the procrastination to identify  cantonment areas during the first months of the pre- transitional period was a clear sign of eminent abrogation, If the assembly areas were identified on time, training of the unified forces kicked off on time , that process alone would have served as a blueprint for the smooth implementation of the R-ARCISS and confident building would have a meaningful position among the warring parties and the people of South Sudan.

The first Eight months of the pre-Transitional period elapsed without any step forward and this tells that there is no sign of seriousness especially on the part of the government to implement the agreement in letter and spirit. The delayed tactic were purposely played to jeopardize the success of the R-ARCISS so that the status quo is maintained. The extension for six months more after the end of the first Eight months of pre-transitional period was outlined to speed up the implementation of the security arrangement, merely, six months are ending without any significant progress as we are expecting the formation of the government next month.  

The face to face meeting of Dr. Riek Machar and President Salva kiir last month in J1 was cheerfully received and thought to be the right moment for the principals to iron out the stumbling blocks in the agreement, unluckily, there was no breakthrough instead ended hoaxing people of South Sudan as usual by creating another non effective committee to review the number of states and their boundaries. All those delayed tactics are placed out just to derail and abrogate the agreement itself as there are so many individuals within the ruling circle who are not happy for peace to return to South Sudan. Their main objective is to frustrate the implementation by all means possible just to maintain their positions in the government and looting spree continues unabated.

Another mind boggling factor that still whirls the minds of so many South Sudanese is that, up to now the agreement(R-ARCISS) has not been adopted or incorporated as a legal document in the constitution of the republic of South Sudan 

The agreement in its current form has no legal mandate or back up but a paper which can be trashed anytime by the parties to the agreement. The slowness of the process and the Lack of political will from the leaders is shattering the little prospects South Sudanese have gained so far, the ball is in the court of the leaders otherwise, the business of abrogation has already shown signs before the formation of the agreement. 

The issue of number of the states which has been a flash point between the goverment and the opposition for the last three years is hindering  the implementation process as President Salva Kiir sticks to his unconstitutional 32 states which he imposed on South Sudanese in 2015 ignoring the 10 states enshrined in 2015 agreement .The IBC body mandated by the 2018 document to oversee, study and recommend on the number of states and their borders, the body recently handed over the report of their findings to the president kiir with the recommendation of reverting to the then 10 states based on the feedback they got from the people of South Sudan, but the report was not considered due to the fact that it doesn’t underpin the establishment order which created 32 states.

Permanent peace cannot be realized without the participation of other armed groups in the country, an inclusive process that includes various groups led by other South Sudanese leaders (Thomas Cirilo, paul Malong and pagan Amun) they must be involved in the agreement 

With all these impediments and lack of trust among the signatories, the R-ARCISS may never exit from the intensive care unit(ICU).

For more information on this article, you can reach the author through his email at nhialnyarok@gmail.com

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