The 39th Extraordinary Assembly of the IGAD Heads of State and Government was held on Tuesday in Nairobi, Kenya, and the participants called on the key peace partners in South Sudan to draw a roadmap to complete the remaining tasks, a communique by the regional grouping said.
The Assembly which was chaired by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of the Republic of Sudan, also commended the progress so far made in implementing key provisions of the security arrangements in the revitalized peace agreement.
“The Assembly called upon the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU) and the parties to draw up a roadmap with clear benchmarks and realistic timelines to complete the remaining tasks including the conduct of elections,” the communique read in part.
The IGAD Assembly also pleaded with United States America to reconsider its decision to cut back on financing the peace process in South Sudan.
“Appealed to key partners of the South Sudan Peace Process, particularly the United States of America, to reconsider their decision to significantly scale down their support to the peace process in South Sudan that is crippling the work of critical agreement mechanisms such as the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) and the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM; and agencies supporting the delivery of much needed humanitarian assistance,” the communique said.
The Assembly commended the progress made so far in implementing key provisions of Chapter Two of the Revitalized Agreement the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) regarding the unification of forces.
“The Assembly further observed that only 8 months remain to the end of the Transition Period in the South Sudan peace process while a number of critical tasks are still outstanding,” the communique added.
The meeting was attended by President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Prime Minister Abiy Hassan of Ethiopia, Vice President James Wani Igga of South Sudan, Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohammed Gulaid of Somalia, and Uganda’s Defence Minister Vincent Ssempijja among others.