A South Sudanese Minister on Tuesday, March 29, told the East African Community Heads of State Summit that his country is implementing the 2018 peace agreement as it prepares for elections due to be held in less than a year.
As per the agreement, South Sudan is supposed to hold elections on December 22, 2022.
Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin, the country’s Minister of Presidential Affairs who was representing President Salva Kiir Mayardit, during the Summit where regional leaders welcomed the DR Congo into the EAC said his country’s peace process is moving forward in order to achieve stability.
He said: "Your Excellencies, the East African Community stood firmly with the Republic of South Sudan and continues to work shoulder to shoulder with us as we navigate out of the challenges resulting from our conflict.”
"I am pleased to inform you all that we are implementing our peace agreement and are preparing the ground for elections so as to begin a fresh chapter in South Sudan’s development story.”
South Sudan applied to join the EAC in June 2011, shortly after gaining independence from Sudan. But the ensuing political unrest between government forces and rebels greatly affected it. It was admitted as the sixth member of the EAC in 2016.
The country has grappled with instability since its independence from Sudan in 2011. After more than two decades of civil war, it again plunged into conflict in December 2013.
At the time, the continent’s youngest nation plunged into conflict after President Kiir sacked his former Vice President Riek Machar, leaving the nation in economic turmoil.
A peace deal signed in 2018 led to power-sharing in a national unity government sworn in in February 2020, with Kiir as president and Machar as vice-president.
The agreement known as the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan was signed on September 12, 2018.
Trained 53,000 troops
MP Ayason Mukulia Kennedy, a member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), told The New Times that: "Key areas within the agreement must be attended to in order to foster trust and confidence in the results of the resulting elections.”
Mukulia said they include: the unification and redeployment of the forces of the armed parties to the Agreement, and the DDR; the completion of the Permanent Constitution-making process to guide the conduct of elections; review of the National Elections Act 2012 and Political Parties Act 2012, and reconstituting of the National Elections Commission and the Political Parties Council; and facilitation of the voluntary return of South Sudan’s IDPs and refugees.
"And constituency delimitation, registration of voters and population census should ideally be undertaken before elections are done,” Mukulia said.
The South Sudan Minister told the EAC Summit that: "As Your Excellencies are aware, of course the revitalized transitional government of national unity is in the process of establishing unified forces. Up to now, we have managed to train about 53,000 troops, are ready for graduation.”
"That is a great milestone in the security arrangement of the implementation of the peace agreement.”
The 2018 agreement which ended the war continues to be hampered by wrangling between rival parties, and some of its key provisions are yet to be implemented.
Count on our support
During the virtual EAC Summit, on Tuesday, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, Chairperson of the EAC Heads of State Summit, sent a message to Juba, through the Minister, pledging "our support as a region as you move forward with the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement.”
Kenyatta added: "And we look forward to working with you to see peace, security, and stability restored to South Sudan to ensure that the people of South Sudan and indeed the people of east Africa as a whole can benefit from the dividend of peace.
"So, count on our support and we wish you the very best.”
Conflict, disparities in policy, as well as legal and regulatory frameworks, among others, hindered the country’s integration into the EAC Customs Union and the bloc’s Secretariat is working out ways to help Juba integrate.
On March 28, the Sudan Tribune reported that South Sudan’s First Vice President Riek Machar has rejected President Kiir’s recent directive on the formation of a unified command structure, citing a lack of consensus on the unilateral decision.
The EastAfrican reports that tensions are growing in Juba as President Kiir and First Vice President Machar disagree on how to implement security arrangements as stipulated in the 2018 agreement.
Later, government forces were reported to have surrounded Machar’s home.
"Without prior information, the SSPDF deployed armed forces with armored personnel carriers on the routes to my residence. Persons who attempted to go to the residence were turned off by these troops. The deployment was removed only at 6.15 am this morning [Monday] with no explanation provided,” Machar is quoted in a statement seen by The EastAfrican.
According to the Sudan Tribune, President Kiir admitted later on Monday the deployment of security forces in the areawhere his first deputy is residing citing security concerns.
As noted, Kiir also admitted there are sticky issues impeding the implementation of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement adding that such issues could still be resolved through dialogue.
"Nothing is difficult for a human being. There is nothing that cannot be resolved. If there are obstacles on the way, they can still be resolved if there is a dialogue,” Kiir is quoted saying.
Clearing all outstanding EAC payments
Meanwhile, Dr. Marial reiterated his government’s commitment to the EAC integration agenda and told leaders that Juba is working to pay its arrears to the bloc’s Secretariat.
Available information indicates that the country has continuously defaulted from making its annual remittances to the bloc, causing financial stress in the latter’s activities.
A November 2021 EAC Council of Ministers report which The New Times has seen, highlighting the status of partner states’ contribution as at November 16, 2021, towards the EAC main budget, puts Juba’s total outstanding amount at $34,794,77, followed by Burundi at $15,394,209.
"As you are all aware, the destructive conflict in our young nation has greatly impacted our active participation within the East African Community,” South Sudan’s Minister of Presidential Affairs told EAC leaders.
Sadly enough, he said, the conflict was compounded by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic leading to South Sudan "falling behind on its contribution on to the EAC, an issue that we will soon rectify.”
Indeed, in the year 2023, he said, President Kiir directed him to "assure Your Excellencies, of the government’s commitment to clearing all our outstanding payments in order to pave the way for more robust engagement at the community level.”