Rights body calls for new mechanisms to South Sudan peace process
September 3, 2017 (KAMPALA) – The Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ) has called for an inclusive revitalization process in South Sudan’s peace process, saying isolating the country’s rebel groups from the peace process could mean prolonging the war in the East African nation.
The official called for a new approach, involving both war parties with full participation of political leaders in and outside the country.
“We need both President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar for fully present in South Sudan, to allow the transitional justice processes take place especially the accountability and reconciliation part because they have direct responsibility for the four years conflict in the country and must be personally involved in reconciliation and accountability processes,” Tito told Sudan Tribune.
The CPJ director further warned that the recent IGAD revitalized peace process lacks a ground base, saying it focuses on one side of the conflict and was likely to fuel the ongoing conflict in the country.
“Peace cannot be achieved in South Sudan when the armed opposition allied to the SPLM (IO) Machar faction is out of the revitalization of the 2015 peace agreement,” stressed the official.
“I urge the regional leaders to be serious to achieve peace in the new country or collaborate with international actors to initiate a new political process that will bring peace in South Sudan,” he added.
In June, East African leaders at an extraordinary summit meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia called for the revitalization of the 2015 South Sudan peace accord, saying the agreement was the only solution to end the conflict.
The South Sudanese government, however, said the revitalization forum by the regional, which mediated the 2015 peace deal should not be another platform for negotiation of the new 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 Riek 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)
