IGAD delays sanctions on South Sudanese parties
July 1, 2018 (JUBA) – Following the signing of Khartoum Declaration of Agreement on 27 June, the IGAD Council of Minister delayed its previous decision to impose sanctions on the violators of the cessation of hostilities agreement.
The IGAD Council of Ministers held a meeting in Nouakchott, Mauritania on 30 June, on the sideline of African Union to discuss the progress in the revitalization process since its last meeting in Addis Ababa last week on 20 June.
Following a by the IGAD special envoy Ismail Wais, the Council welcomed the progress being made parties in the ongoing face-to-face talks in Khartoum and the declaration of a permanent ceasefire in South Sudan.
“Given the latest developments in the peace process and the need to implement the permanent ceasefire and achieve an inclusive peace agreement, it is not helpful to pursue punitive measures at this stage,” reads a statement received by Sudan Tribune on Sunday.
In his briefing to the IGAD heads of states and governments on 21 June, Wais requested the leaders of the regional block to approve the targeted punitive measures endorsed by the IGAD Council of Ministers during its 62nd Extra-Ordinary Session.
However, the IGAD leaders tasked the Council of Ministers to “instructed the Council to give guidance to the Special Envoy for South Sudan on the remaining HLRF tasks” at the sideline of the African Union meetings in Mauritania.
The Council of Ministers meeting was chaired by the Hirut Zemene, Ethiopia’s State Minister of Foreign Affairs and attended by Mohamoud Ali Yussuf, Djibouti’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sam Kutesa, Uganda’s Foreign Minister, Abdulkadir Ahmedkheyr Abdi, Somali State Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mohammed Idris, Sudan’s State Minister of Foreign Affairs.
(ST)