The Chairman of the East African Regional Bloc IGAD has appointed the former president of Botswana Festus Gontebanye Mogae as chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC).

The JMEC is a mechanism established by the recent peace agreement to encourage and monitor implementation of the same agreement.

According to a letter from Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who doubles as IGAD chairman, the appointment follows consultations between IGAD regional leaders and partners.

Hailemariam in his letter thanked Mogae for “accepting this heavy responsibility,” adding that all of the IGAD leaders will stand behind him to support implementation of the new peace agreement.

“I have asked Ambassador Seyoum Mesfin, Chairman of IGAD Special Envoys for South Sudan to make the necessary logistical arrangement for Your Excellency's visit to Addis Ababa as early as practically possible,” Hailemariam wrote to the Botswanan former president.

“I have also enclosed herewith the Agremeent on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan and the TOR of the JMEC.”

Festus Mogae served as president of Botswana from 1998 to 2008, when he stepped down to allow another politician to lead the country. He is the 2008 recipient of a more than $5 million prize for "Achievement in African Leadership."