South Sudan peace monitors have called on the country’s leaders to quickly implement a revitalised peace agreement, saying much remains to be done with two years of transitional period gone.
The Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) said February 22 marked exactly 24 months since the beginning of the transitional period and the formation of the Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU), but key tasks still remained pending.
“With these pending tasks and the limited time left, renewed vigor, commitment, compromise and political willare needed to deliver South Sudan that the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) envisages,” RJMEC said in a statement issued in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
The peace monitors said the implementation of the peace deal remains the best hope for building durable and sustainable peace in South Sudan.
RJMEC said while it acknowledges progress made, particularly in terms of governance, it takes note of key tasks that remain pending including several key pieces of legislation which are not ratified by the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, and State governments are not fully functioning.
The peace monitors said the forces are not unified, the Special Reconstruction Fund is not established, and millions of South Sudanese remain in refugee camps outside the country or in IDP camps.
And public financial management reforms remain largely undone. The transitional justice mechanisms are not established. Moreover, beyond the drafting of its legislation, the constitution-making process is not progressing as expected.
The peace monitors said the permanent constitution process must be fast-tracked, as this was a pre-requisite for the conduct of elections at the end of the Transitional Period.
It called on the transitional government to make dedicated financial resources available for the completion of the much-delayed Transitional Security Arrangements, especially the graduation and redeployment of the unified forces. -Xinhua
