Botswana's ex-president Festus Mogae said that he intends to step down as head of the peace monitoring commission for South Sudan peace deal in September.
In a press release extended to Radio Tamazuj this afternoon, the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) said its chairperson Festus Mogae plans to step down next month.
It further Mr Mogae has written to the Chairperson of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Abiy Ahmed Ali, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, informing him of his intention to step down as JMEC chairperson at the end of September 2018.
Mogae, who recommended the revitalization of the 2015 agreement to the IGAD Heads of State and Government during their 31st Extra-ordinary Summit on South Sudan held on 12th of June 2017 in Ethiopia, has said:” As the process to revitalize the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan draws to a close, I have adjudged it appropriate to allow for the new phase of the transition period for South Sudan to be in fresh hands.”
The JMEC is a mechanism established by the 2015 peace agreement in South Sudan to encourage and monitor implementation of the same agreement.
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."