AU team in South Sudan to assess peace implementation amidst missed deadlines

By Tapeng Michael Ohure

A delegation from the African Union Peace and Security Council has arrived in South Sudan’s capital Juba to assess the implementation of the country’s peace agreement.

Deadlines set by a 2018 peace agreement in the country to accomplish key provisions of the deal, including the security arrangement, permanent constitution making and formation of a hybrid court for accountability during six year of crisis have been missed.

The three-year implementation of transitional government set up by the deal has a year to run and yet parties continue to lay blame on each other for lack of progress.

“We will talk to a cross section of stakeholders from government, the civil society, political parties, and some of the development partners, just to get a sense of how the peace process is going, where are the challenges and how can the Peace and Security Council of the African Union continue to support South Sudan during this transition,” Kenya’s Ambassador to the African Union, Jean Kamau, who led the 15-member team told reporters on arrival at Juba International airport.

“We want to know what are the challenges, what are the key support areas that we need to put more emphasis in to ensure that we meet the deadline” of the implementation, Kamau said.

President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar are leading the peace implementation which ends in February 2023 and is expected to lead the country to democratic elections.

Fighting between forces of the two leaders which began in December 2013 left 400,000 people dead, displaced four million others, slashed crude production, the main source of revenue for South Sudan and led to economic chaos.

Currently, forces remain gathered at designated points awaiting the completion of the security arrangement, the constitution making process just started its work and no one discusses the hybrid court.