We are aware that currently, the majority of our peace-loving citizens (well meant) are euphoric about the 25th Aug, 2014 signed Protocol by the IGAD Heads of State and Government believing that it was a panacea for ending the national crisis. After reading our observations, you will realize that the document being shuttled from one forum to another with hubris and harangues in Juba and elsewhere in the country is both legally and politically impotent (hocus-pocus!). What is even more lurid about the document is that it wasn’t also signed by the parties to the Peace Talks.
By hurriedly signing the document, it appears to me that someone somewhere would like to render the IGAD-led mediated process a nemesis. That will not happen because the region itself has invested heavily on the process with the unwavering support of the African Union, Troika, European Union and China. History is full of examples where we know that any good ‘Agreement’ must be a win-win one; there is no Lombardy or victory of any kind in any negotiated agreement unless it is a bad one like that of 25th, Aug, 2014. Celebrating the signing of the Protocol as if it were a victory for one side is in itself provocative and doesn’t serve well for a conducive atmosphere for peace making.
In any case, read our observations and let’s think together for a better text that will usher in to a new political dispensation that can restore the devastated spirits of our citizens and give the country the opportunity to recover from the current deformation.
With great optimism for change of hearts and minds we will rise from the ashes.
Kind regards!
Cirino Hiteng Ofuho,
Nairobi, Kenya
