In his address to the meeting, RJMEC Chairperson, Amb. Maj. Gen. George Owinow said that despite the commendable progress that had been made since the signing of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) in September 2018, the country is once again at a pivotal moment.”

Looking at the security situation, Amb. Owinow reported that what started as political and security tensions culminated in fatal clashes, including the 7th March incident in Nasir County, Upper Nile State, that claimed the life of a senior SSPDF General and an UNMISS helicopter crew member, among other fatalities. 

This was followed by the arrest and subsequently arraignment in court of senior members of the SPLM/A-IO leadership accused of involvement in the incident. 

Amb. Maj. Gen. Owinow told the meeting that at the time, “RJMEC urged the regional and international guarantors to urgently apply their diplomatic influence to resolve the political and security deadlock between the SPLM/A-IO and ITGoNU,” he said, reitarating RJMEC’s call for an immediate ceasefire, dialogue, release of detainees and return to focus on the implementation of the R-ARCSS. 

“This call was widely supported by national, regional and international peace actors,” he noted. In his address to the Extraordinary Meeting, Amb. Owinow said, “there is no doubt therefore that the R-ARCSS is facing its greatest challenge since its signing. If the current challenges are not urgently addressed, there is a high risk of reversal of the gains already made and may lead to a collapse of the Agreement altogether.”

He said that systematic violations of the R-ARCSS ”called into serious question the commitment of the Parties to the R-ARCSS in letter and spirit” and consequently “undermined trust and confidence in the peace process.”

In RJMEC’s analysis, he said, this is attributable to several factors, including, among others, mistrust between the Parties to the R-ARCSS and lack of collegiality and genuine consultations by Parties to the R-ARCSS resulting in unilateral decisions that further erode trust.

Emphasising the importance of dialogue among the Parties, Amb. Gen. Owinow concluded the meeting: “In light of the aforementioned, I would like to urge the RTGoNU to re-activate and re-energize the functionality of all the Agreement institutions and mechanisms, especially the Joint Defense Board and all other Security Mechanisms, fast-track the Constitution-making and Electoral process by availing adequate funding to all the institutions to enable timely implementation of their respective mandates.”