South Sudan needs you: Yakani tells EAC
A South Sudanese civil society group is calling on the East African Community to push for stability in the country. The Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) said in a statement issued on Saturday, that any slip into war in South Sudan would affect the EAC bloc, due to the burdens of economic ruins and humanitarian problems.
The Executive Director of CEPO, Edmund Yakani, condemned the silence of the EAC Secretariat and heads of states, arguing that by assuming Juba’s political heat, the neighbours were treading on a dangerous path.
‘‘Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation is disturbed by this silent position of EAC on the political situation in South Sudan regardless of EAC not being part of the peace agreement process from 2016,’’ CEPO stated.
It added that the “EAC has a moral obligation to demonstrate concern about the political situation in South Sudan.’’
According to CEPO, the EAC may be unreceptive to resolving South Sudan’s political tensions among peace partners due to the country’s failure to pay its membership fees and ratification of the bloc’s peace and security protocol. But being a member means that the partners are obligated to ensure peace and instability, even if it means just issuing a statement to that effect.
Yakani stated: ‘‘It is meaningless to have a protocol on peace and security that is not exercised, even in the form of a solidarity statement with reference to the protocol.”
‘‘The EAC peace and security protocol enshrined good values for peace and security if they are exercised, and the South Sudan situation requires the exercise of the protocol.’’
The statement by CEPO comes after a week of alleged armed conflict pitting the South Sudan Defence Forces (SSPDF) and forces of the South Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) in Upper Nile. On Thursday, both sides traded accusations, with opposing army spokespersons issuing statements implicating each other’s side. It came at a time when the SPLM/A-IO, which is aligned with the First President, Dr. Riek Machar, refused to attend a meeting called by the Revitalised Joint Reconstituted Monitoring Commission (R-JMEC), citing a breach of the ceasefire.
