S. Sudanese rebels accept IGAD revitalization forum
October 10, 2017 (JUBA) – A South Sudanese group on Tuesday welcomed the proposed the revitalization forum, saying it has already been consulted by the delegation of the regional bloc (IGAD) and the team that is monitoring and evaluating the 2015 peace agreement.
Garang was accompanied by General Hussein Abdelbagi Akol, according to a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, Tuesday.
The regional delegation was led by the IGAD’s Special Envoy for South Sudan, Ambassador Ismail Wais. Also, the IGAD team included Major Gen. Molla Hailemariam, Chairman of the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM).
The consultative meeting, the group said, sought to listen to the views of the different opposition groups on the revitalization of the 2015 peace agreement to derive mechanisms on how the war can be resolved.
“The leadership of the Movement met the team of IGAD which came to Khartoum and submitted a written position to them. The movement accepted and welcomed the revitalization process and affirmed its commitment to participating in the process the only way the conflict in the country could be resolved,” the statement added.
In June, a summit of IGAD heads of state and government decided to convene a meeting of the signatories of the South Sudan peace agreement to discuss ways to revitalize the peace implementation.
During the June summit, it was agreed that all groups be included in the discussion aimed at restoring a permanent ceasefire.
Last week, IGAD unveiled the timetable for the revitalization forum to start consultations with South Sudanese leaders and the nation’s citizens. The process, it said, begins on 13 October and ends on 17.
South Sudan government earlier warned that the revitalization forum by the regional bloc, which mediated the 2015 peace accord, should not be another platform for negotiations of the peace agreement between the two factions to the conflict.
IGAD is an eight-member economic bloc that brings together Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda.
Over a million people have fled South Sudan since conflict erupted in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir sacked Machar from the vice-presidency. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced in South Sudan’s worst ever violence since it seceded from Sudan in 2011
(ST)