The civil society organization, the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), on Tuesday, said it is worried that the SPLM/A-IO freezing its participation in the security and political mechanisms of the 2018 peace agreement will affect the peace process.
On Monday, the SPLM/A-IO, led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar, announced that it has stopped participating in the Joint Defense Board (JDB), High-Level Political Committee (HLPC), Joint Military Ceasefire Committee (JMCC), and Joint Transitional Security Committee (JTSC) pending the release of all political detainees. A press statement said they took the decision due to the continued illegal detention of their ranking members, the deployment of Ugandan troops in South Sudan, and ethnic profiling of the Nuer Community, among other reasons.
“CEPO is seriously concerned with this new development from the SPLM-IO as one of the partners to the R-ARCSS,” the CEPO statement reads. “The stoppage of the SPLM-IO participation in the national mechanisms for the implementation of the pending tasks of the political transitional process is really posing a threat to the fate of the R-ARCSS.”
CEPO Executive Director Edmund Yakani described the SPLM-IO’s freezing of participation in the national mechanisms as a “serious injury act” on the fate of R-ARCSS.
“The leaders of the parties signatory to the R-ARCSS should urgently meet for thorough and serious deliberations to sort out their political differences. Delaying a meeting of the presidency, including stakeholders, on the fate of the political transitional process within the two years of the newly extended transitional period will be a grave mistake and the fate of the government of national unity will be at risk,” the statements said. “Finally, CEPO is urging the president and first vice president to be sincere and honest to each other in transitioning the country from instability to stability genuinely and timely. The country is losing its face in front of the regional and international communities.”