Sudan to lead support mobilization for peace implementation: official
July 27, 2022 (JUBA) – Sudan will lead mobilization for support meant to boost the implementation of critical benchmarks in South Sudan’s revitalized peace accord, a senior government official disclosed on Wednesday.
South Sudan’s Cabinet Affairs minister, Martin Elia Lomuro said Khartoum’s involvement would fill the vacuum created after some donor countries halted funding the implementation of the September 2018 peace agreement.
“There is a general understanding from the region that the agreement is progressing well because they see the progress being made”, he said.
Lomuro, who was part of a four-member team that prepared the post-transitional period roadmap, lauded Khartoum’s willing to lead the process.
“This agreement is the culmination of a well-coordinated regional effort to arrest the political conflict which escalated into a violent conflict in 2013 with the signing of the 2015 peace agreement. When it stalled as a result of the new developments in 2016, the region decided to revitalize it in 2018,” he stressed.
Sudan and Uganda are guarantors of the deal signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
A Sudanese delegation led by the acting Foreign Affairs minister, Ali al-Sadiq expressed their willingness to mobilize support for the implementation of the remaining areas, citing the need to prepare for general elections.
It remains unclear which regional countries and friends of South Sudan will be mobilized to provide financial support.
The United States, a leading donor in the implementation of the peace process withdrew its support, citing failure by leaders to implement the deal. Washington was supporting the operations and activities of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC) as well as the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM).
(ST)