International monitors of the peace deal say opposition forces led by General Thomas Cirillo launched a number of attacks in Yei River State, without giving details.
“Yei River area continues to be of great concern. It is clear NAS forces of Thomas Cirillo committed a number of attacks and clearly violated the ACOH,” CTSAMVM Chairman Maj. Gen. Desta Abiche Ageno told the 5th board meeting in Juba on Tuesday.
The mandate of the CTSAMVM is to monitor and verify the implementation of the Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities as agreed by the parties and thus help bring an end to the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.
Ageno further said government troops in reaction also violated the ceasefire deal by failing to give CTSAMVM prior notification of its movement.
“It is becoming increasingly important to resolve the issue of the NAS forces of Thomas Cirillo and other armed groups operating in Greater Equatoria,” he said.
On 8 March, the IGAD Special Envoy for South Sudan Ismail Wais met with a team from the NAS movement to discuss ways of bringing the holdout opposition group to join the revitalised peace deal.
Ageno said that their ability to verify and investigate allegations of violations depends on their ability to move and access areas throughout South Sudan.
He added that the main impediment to conducting verification of forces as required by the peace deal has been the consistent denial of access to areas.
“Since the last Board meeting there were 10 incidents of denial by the SSPDF/NSS and 2 by the SPLM/A-IO,” he said.
“Regarding areas of concern for the implementation of the Permanent Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements, there continue to be verified reports of the SPLM/SPLA-IO forces moving into cantonment areas. Again, this movement requires careful coordination by JMCC and notification to CTSAMVM in advance to reduce the risk of clashes,” he added.
Sexual violence
Separately, the ceasefire monitor said the issue of Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) remains a huge concern in South Sudan, pointing out that they had verified allegations of rape by government soldiers in Karpeto, Lobonok, Central Equatoria on 18 January 2019.
He stressed that the incident constitutes a clear violation of the peace agreement and that the army leadership must apply law and order to discipline its soldiers in cases of sexual violence.
In September 2018, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and several opposition leaders, including main opposition leader Riek Machar signed a peace deal to end the civil war.