The Catholic Church in South Sudan is calling on the IGAD to urgently convene a summit for heads of state to assess the status of the implementation of the peace agreement, in a bid to 'rescue the situation before the parties relapse to a conflict'.
In a statement released late last week, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Juba Paulino Lukudu Loro said key activities which he called ‘most critical and consequential’ have not been implemented casting doubts over the expected formation of the unity government in May.
“The disagreement by the parties to the RARCSS over the formation of the TGONU in the month of May could likely lead the country back to unnecessary conflict,” read part of the statement.
The church leaders also called on the two main rival principals to attend the talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 2nd and 3rd May in person and exercise humility and political will to reach a compromise solution to the dispute over the formation of the unity government.
The church further called on the parties to stop mobilizing, recruiting and training soldiers and remain open to communication with other stakeholders including those not party to the agreement.
In March, Archbishop Lukudu warned that the peace deal is unlikely to hold saying the concrete situation on the ground demonstrates that the revitalized deal is not addressing the root causes of the conflict.
In September last year, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and several opposition leaders, including Riek Machar, signed a power-sharing deal promising an end to the conflict that killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.
But South Sudanese parties now face a time crunch, as the deal provides for a new unity government to assume power in May 2019 before elections three years later.