Chairperson of the Peace and Security Council;

Commissioner of Peace and Security; 

Your Excellencies Permanent Representatives; 

Excellencies;

Ladies and Gentlemen.

Your Excellency,

1.   It is my honour, as the Interim Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) to address this Council today. 

2.   As the oversight body of the Revitalized Peace Agreement, we recently published a very detailed evaluation report on the status of the implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement from September 2018 to date, a copy of which, will be shared with your excellencies electronically. 

3.   I will therefore only highlight the key issues for your attention and deliberations today.

4.   Overall, there has been commendable progress since the Revitalized Peace Agreement was signed, including the cessation of violence across the country amongst the signatories to the Agreement; continued holding of the permanent ceasefire; the establishment and reconstitution of all institutions/mechanisms of the Agreement; incorporation of the Revilatised Agreement into the Transitional Constitution, as amended; review and amendments of all security related laws, Political Parties Act, Audit Chambers and Public Finance Management and Accountability Bills, some of which have already been enacted by the reconstituted Parliament. Equally important is the unification of the command structure of the armed forces and the commencement of transitional justice and permanent constitution-making processes, amongst others.

5.   Under the Agreement, the Transitional Period should be marked with a democratic election. However, with barely seven months to the end of the Transitional Period (February 2023), a number of critical Agreement tasks remain unimplemented. Some of the key elections related tasks, which are still pending include:

a.     Reconstitution of the Political Parties Council;

b.     Amendment of the National Elections Act, 2012 and reconstitution of a competent and impartial National Elections Commission (NEC) to conduct elections;

c.      Addressing of the challenges of reconstruction, repatriation, resettlement, rehabilitation and reintegration of IDPs and returnees;

d.     Unification of forces to prepare for elections;

e.      Completion of the permanent constitution-making to guide the conduct of elections; and 

f.        Preparation for the holding of free, fair and credible elections.

6.   Without these tasks implemented, it will be difficult to conduct a credible election.

Your Excellency,

2.   There are several recurring challenges facing the implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement, namely: 

a.         lack of sufficient resources (financial and material) needed for the implementation of the Agreement; 

b.         insufficient political will and commitment of some actors; 

c.         trust deficit amongst the Parties; 

d.         capacity gaps; and

e.         growing sub-national violence. 

3.   The aforementioned challenges and delays not only undermine confidence in the peace process and ferment defections, but have also caused growing anxiety and frustrations amongst the South Sudanese population and international partners supporting the peace process. 

4.   As a result, we are witnessing increasing sub-national violence in the countryside, as well as withdrawal of some key actors and partners to the peace process. Very recently, the US Government withdrew its support to RJMEC and CTSAMVM, key IGAD mandated oversight and verification institutions, whose functions and effectiveness, are indispensable to the implementation of the Peace Agreement. Without an effective oversight mechanism, we risk the collapse of the Agreement, and reversing the gains made under the Agreement thus far. 

Your Excellency,

5.     In conclusion, I recommend the following to this Council: 

a.      urge the RTGoNU to develop a clear roadmap and strategy to implement critical outstanding requirements of the Revitalised Peace Agreement towards elections;

b.         support the RTGoNU efforts in mobilising resources from the region, and the international community to support the implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement and to convene the Pledging Conference for South Sudan as provided for under Chapter 3 of the Agreement;

c.         engage the leadership of the RTGoNU to bridge the trust deficit, build confidence and demonstrate political will and commitment;

d.         urge the RTGoNU to address sub-national violence by urgently graduating and redeploying the unified forces;

e.         appeal to the US Government to reconsider its decision to halt support to RJMEC and CTSAMVM;

f.            Further appeal to all partners and friends of South Sudan to support RJMEC and CTSAMVM and the full implementation of the R-ARCSS, and 

g.         Lastly, appeal to the AU Commission to consider supporting RJMEC and CTSAMVM to ensure the effective discharge of their mandate.

I Thank You.