Ceasefire monitors sent by the East African bloc of nations known as IGAD arrived in South Sudan on Sunday to begin preparations for the monitoring of the ceasefire and verification of violations.
IGAD, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, held an extraordinary summit meeting on South Sudan on Friday chaired by the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Dessalegn.
The regional body is leading the mediation efforts at negotiations in Addis Ababa between South Sudan’s government and the breakaway faction of the ruling party SPLM.
A 14-member advance team of IGAD monitors arrived in Juba on Sunday as part of the ‘IGAD Joint Technical Committee,’ led by Major General (rtd) Gebreegzabher Mebrahtu of Ethiopia and deputised by Major General Mohammed Amin Moustafa Eltinay of Sudan.
According to the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities signed by both parties, the Joint Technical Committee is established by the IGAD Special Envoys in consultation with both parties. The technical committee will oversee the work of monitoring teams in the field.
Additional clauses of the same agreement state that the monitoring teams shall be comprised of “representatives drawn from IGAD Member States, the Parties and Partners which shall include a mix of civilians, and individuals with military background.”
Article 7.2 of the agreement states that the monitoring team shall “enjoy complete freedom of movement and unhindered access throughout all areas controlled by the Parties.”
General Gebreegzabher Mebrahtu told reporters upon his arrival in Juba yesterday that monitors will be deployed to different areas within the coming week. IGAD says the monitors will initially focus on Bor, Malakal, Bentiu and Juba areas.
The United States is lending its backing to the effort. Speaking after the IGAD summit, US Ambassador Donald Booth said, “The important thing now is to move forward the monitoring and verification of the ceasefire agreement for the parties then to agree on the way forward for the political talks.”
Booth emphasized the importance of upcoming political talks: “This problem ultimately began as a problem within the SPLM. The roots of these problems are political and the solution to it must be political, but will have to involved broader cross-section of South Sudanese society in order to ensure that the solutions are durable, and that we don’t have South Sudan sliding back into conflict again.”
Photo: Nhial Deng Nhial, leader of South Sudan’s delegation, signed a cease-fire Jan. 23 to end more than five weeks of fighting. Cease-fire talks took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Reuters).