Deficit in trust slows peace implementation
A civil society activist has said the members of the Presidency who have the power to influence the incumbent government and SPLM-IO have a high deficit in trust and confidence.
The Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, said one of the biggest problems in changing the situation in South Sudan from violence to peace through a political peace agreement is the lack of trust and confidence among the principals of the agreement.
Yakani said a high deficit in trust and confidence has been demonstrated by the failure to reach a consensus on the unification of command.
“You cannot graduate unified forces if you do not unify the command. Even if you graduate them, where are they going to receive the command? You need to have a central command, “he stressed.
The activist said that due to a high level of mistrust and lack of confidence among the principal parties to the agreement, some chapters of the agreement yet to be implemented.
“Some sections of Chapter 2 of the agreement are seen from a political landscape and not from a professional military landscape, for example, the redeployment”.
Chapter 2 of the agreement talks about the permanent ceasefire and transitional security arrangements that focus on ensuring sustainable peace and facilitating the operationalisation of the transitional security arrangements and the voluntary repatriation, resettlement, rehabilitation, and reintegration of returnees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
“They look at redeployment capacity with my opponent, and elections are coming, so if I want to use forces to pave my way back to power, my opponent will have the same military capacity to contest the results,” Yakani said.
Should be addressed
Yakani added that implementation of Chapter 5 of the accord is a bit problematic due to mistrust among the principles.
Chapter 5 is all about transitional justice, accountability, reconciliation, and healing. Upon establishment, the government shall initiate legislation for the establishment of the following transitional justice institutions: the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing (CTRH), the Hybrid Court for South Sudan (HCSS) and the Compensation and Reparation Authority (CRA).
The main armed opposition, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), on Monday issued a communiqué following a meeting of its political bureau to deliberate on the implementation of the revitalised peace agreement and lamented the intentional delays in the implementation of the peace agreement.
The Political Bureau registered during the three (03) years and five (05) months of implementation of the R-ARCSS major incidences of violations, such as rejection and refusal to appoint nominees of SPLM/A-IO to positions allocated to SPLM/A-IO in RTGoNU and State levels, unconstitutional suspension by Governors of State Ministers and Commissioners in Central Equatoria, Unity, Lakes and Jonglei States without prior information to their respective parties.
Yakani further said the timeline for conducting elections is not favourable due to armed communal violence across the country coupled with climate change.
He said the rainy season is almost approaching which would not be possible due to poor infrastructure.
The activist emphasized that security arrangements should be disconnected from political arrangements in any agreement.
