S. Sudan says IGAD revitalization forum not for new peace deal
July 26, 2017 (JUBA) – South Sudan government says the revitalization forum by the East African regional bloc (IGAD), which mediated the 2015 peace deal would not be another platform for negotiation of the new peace agreement between the two factions to the conflict.
The minister said the physical presence of the estranged parties was not necessary, but can they can contribute their ideas and send them to the IGAD secretariat for evaluation by the forum members.
“What is important is that the views of the estranged parties should reach the forum, not necessarily they appear in person because this is not new negotiation. It is a forum through which ideas could be presented so that they are used to help the secretariat devise a mechanism to help with the implementation process”, he stressed during an exclusive interview with Sudan Tribune on Wednesday.
The Ethiopian minister of foreign affairs said the forum will develop a revised and realistic timeline as well as the implementation schedule towards a democratic election at the end of the transitional period.
On Monday, the IGAD council of ministers on began reviewing progress so far achieved and also started consultations on ways of revitalizing the peace process in war-torn South Sudan.
The meeting, held in South Sudan, renewed calls for warring parties to support the revitalization process of the August 2015 peace deal.
While opening the 58th extraordinary session of the regional bloc meeting, the chairperson of the IGAD council of ministers, also Ethiopia’s foreign minister, Workneh Gebeyehu, stressed the need for an accommodating, inclusive and viable process.
The council of ministers vowed to deliberate the peace process in South Sudan and the planned high-level revitalization forum, with various stakeholders, including representatives of the international community, faith-based organisations, eminent persons, youth, women, the civil society and private sector prior to its deliberations.
Last month, East African leaders at a summit meeting held in Addis Ababa called for the revitalization of the 2015 South Sudan peace accord, saying the agreement was the only solution for 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)