The African Union Peace and Security Council has criticized the rebel group led by South Sudanese former vice president Riek Machar for refusing to sign the minutes of a ceasefire workshop held earlier this month in Addis Ababa.
Commanders from both the SPLA-Juba and SPLA-IO participated in the Permanent Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements (PCTSA) Workshop held in Addis Ababa from 13 to 18 September 2015, under the auspices of the East African regional body IGAD.
In a communique released yesterday, the AU Peace and Security Council “notes with satisfaction the signing of the Minutes of the Workshop by the Government,” while going on to say that the rebel group SPLM/A-IO had failed to sign the same document.
The communique “demands that the SPLM-A/IO sign them without precondition and without further delay, to enable the implementation process to start in earnest.” It further calls on the rebel group and the government to abide by the terms of the new peace agreement.
On the other hand, the spokesman of Riek Machar has criticized the facilitators for ‘mishandling’ the workshop, claiming no final document was presented to the parties at the end of the workshop for deliberation and adoption.
“There was no final document adopted at the workshop. What happened is that representatives of the government and former detainees initialed the recorded minutes of the debates in the workshop without sharing it with us for deliberations and adoption,” said the rebel leader’s spokesperson, James Gatdet Dak, as quoted by Sudan Tribune last week.
“I think the facilitators mishandled the matter. They should have presented to all the parties the minutes for final deliberation and adoption,” sad Dak.
He also said the government was not willing to demilitarize the capital, Juba, in violation of the security arrangements in the peace deal, saying they were instead asking for an army division or brigades to be stationed inside the capital.
He said the document the government initialed was simply a recording of the suggestions from the parties and not a final agreement on the security arrangements.
File photo: SPLM/A-IO leader Riek Machar (Voice of America/Public Domain)