A leading South Sudanese civil society group says the warring parties did not implement the terms of the compromise peace agreement during the three month pre-transitional period, which ended this week.
The Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) conducted an evaluation of the implementation of the agreement and found that out of 32 stipulated actions for the transitional period, only three were fully accomplished.
“CEPO findings are out of 32 stipulated actions in the peace agreement implementation matrix for the pre-transitional period only 6 actions were accomplished and 3 actions of the accomplished 6 actions were half way,” the report said. “Secondly CEPO realized that the pre-transition period is full of violation of the permanent ceasefire which was declared by the commanders in chiefs of the warring on 28 and 29 August, 2015 respectively. The violations of the permanent ceasefire started on the 30th August, 2015 immediately till today.”
Of the three fully accomplished terms, two – giving ceasefire orders to troops and convening a meeting on security arrangements – were incumbent upon the warring parties alone. The other accomplished term was the formation and meeting of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, which is an international group overseeing the implementation of the agreement.
“CEPO realized that the pre-transition period has expired without any tangible action accomplished apart from the declaration of permanent ceasefire which was immediately violated, appointment of the Leaders of Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commissions, and signing of the permanent ceasefire and security arrangement.”
CEPO’s full report, available for download below, lists dozen of other terms which the parties have not been fully accomplished, from demilitarization of Juba and withdrawal of allied forces to immediate release of prisoners of war and declaration of all forces and equipment.
“Absolutely no progressive achievement was made in the pre-transition period of the peace agreement,” CEPO executive director Edmund Yakani said.
“The fear is that similar experiences may be witnessed during the transition period of the 30 months,” he added, referring to the next two and a half years meant to be conducted under a transitional government to prepare for fresh elections.
IGAD and AU not committed to peace deal
Yakani said the lack of implementaion is “disturbing and depressing.” He said it is “clearly an indication of little political will for timely and effective implementation of the peace agreeement.”
CEPO urged IGAD and African Union mediators to double their efforts for making the signed peace agreement real. The group accused IGAD and the AU of lack of commitment for pressuring warring parties for timely and effective implementation.
“This is demonstrated by the way IGAD and AU keep on postponing the expected summit for fostering the implementation of the peace agreement,” Yakani said, referring to a summit which was supposed to be held yesterday but has been put off indefinitely.
CEPO said the postponement of the IGAD summit indicates that regional leaders are interested in subjecting the lives of the innocent South Sudanese to suffering.
File photo: Edmund Yakani