Leadership of the Parties to the South Sudan Agreement Met in Addis Ababa

May 2, 2019 IGAD, Press Releases, South Sudan

PRESS RELEASE,

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,

Leaders of South Sudan political parties meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss formation of the R-TGNU(Photo credit: IGAD/SSNN)

May 2, 2019(SSNN) — A meeting of the leadership of the parties to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) was convened today in Addis Ababa.

“The meeting is of great significance at this time of the South Sudan peace process as the Pre-Transitional period of the peace agreement comes to an end in just under two weeks,” said the IGAD Special Envoy to South Sudan, Amb. Dr. Ismail Wais.

“The purpose of convening this meeting is to critically reflect on where we are at to-date with the implementation of the Pre-Transitional tasks of the Agreement and concretely address discuss mechanism of expediting what still needs to be undertaken going forward including its resource implications,” said Amb. Wais.

According to the Interim Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, Amb. Lt. Gen. Augostino S.K. Njoroge, 59 key tasks were required to be implemented prior to the beginning of the Transitional Period. Amb. Lt. Gen. Njoroge said, “to-date, 27 out of the 59 (tasks) have been completed; 17 are ongoing and 15 are pending. Unfortunately, the pending tasks are the most critical and consequential to the implementation of the Agreement.”

Amb. Lt. Gen. Njoroge pointed out that in spite of moderate progress made, challenges continue to undermine the implementation of the agreement, referring specifically to the “delayed establishment of some institutions and mechanisms, financial constraints, capacity gaps and lack of coordination.”

The meeting is expected to deliberate on a roadmap towards the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity and accelerating the pending tasks.