South Sudanese parties say committed to fully implement revitalized deal
August 21, 2018 (JUBA) – South Sudanese parties to the peace revitalization process reiterated their commitment to implement a deal ending the five-year conflict they are expected to strike next September.
“We do acknowledge that the war and fighting has caused indescribable suffering to all our People and has deeply fractured our society,” they said in a joint statement released by the IGAD on Tuesday.
On Monday the mediation suspended the talks because of the Eid al-Adha holiday. The discussions will resume on 25 August.
After the signing of the governance agreement earlier this month, the parties on 14 August launched the Final Phase and engaged talks on the Article 4 related to the number of states, the new five ministries and their clusters, the Judicial reform, the roles in the Presidency and composition of the National Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC).
When the talks resume, they will also tackle the consequential amendments to Chapters III-VIII of the peace agreement on the Transitional Justice and the constitutional process.
The government and the opposition groups pledged to continue discussions on the remaining issues adding “today we affirm our joint commitment to full implementation of this Agreement, the Khartoum Declaration and Agreements on the Outstanding Security and Governance Issues”.
The South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) and the SPLM-IO say they want the upcoming discussion focus on the hybrid courts, Constitution making process and the issue of the 32 contested states.
The joint statement, which aims to dissipate doubts about the credibility of the parties, is signed by the South Sudanese government, SPLM-OI, SSOA, SPLM-FDs, Other Political Parties (OPP) and Civil Society organizations.
With the resumption of the talks, the talks will include the implementation matrix of the security arrangements besides political talks on the remaining issues on transitional justice and constitutional process.
The parties are expected to initial the final revitalized peace agreement three days after the resumption of talks on 25 August.
The signing ceremony will take place in the presence of the IGAD leaders next month.
(ST)