SPLM/A-IO tightlipped on Al-Burhan proposal, wants ‘better’ joint command
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), led by First Vice President Dr Riek Machar, is pushing for further rectification of some areas in the command structure to pave the way for the implementation of security arrangements.
The Director for Information and Public Relations, Puok Both Baluang, who also serves as Dr Machar’s Press Secretary, declined to declare his party’s position on the proposal presented by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the Sudanese Sovereign Council last Friday.
Although President Salva Kiir had welcomed the proposal, Baluang said, “If [SPLM-IG] accepted the proposal with the amendment or not, it depends on the guarantors to the parties if there is an agreement on the structure or not.”
“To our party as SPLM-IO, we have received the proposal and we have responded to it,” he said.
However, Baluang did not disclose whether the SPLM-IO welcomed the proposal or not.
Arrives in Juba
On Thursday, Gen. Al-Burhan arrived in Juba from Kampala with a joint army command structure proposal for the parties to the revitalised peace agreement to adopt in implementing the security arrangement.
President Salva Kiir is said to have welcomed the proposal, which Mayiik Ayii, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Corporation, described as Al-Burhan’s ‘military acumen’ to end the deadlock on the graduation of the overdue unified forces.
“As a guarantor of the South Sudan Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), “H.E. President Burhan submitted to President Kiir a proposal for the unification of the necessary unified forces, including the command structure for the SSPDF, SPLA-IO, and SSOA.”
“President Kiir welcomed the proposal as reflecting President Burhan’s military acumen and his commitment to lasting peace in South Sudan,” partly read a joint communique by South Sudan and Sudan Foreign Ministries on Friday.
The details of the proposed army command structure remain unknown. But Baluang said the response of the guarantors to all the armed parties’ positions to the proposal, the agreement on the amendment of the National Security Act by the principals, and the passing of the six security bills into laws will determine when the graduation of the forces will take place.
“[The graduation will take place] as soon as the SPLM-IG accepts or submits their response to the proposal laid by Sudan for the parties to agree on the structure of the command and parliament passes the six security laws,” said Baluang.
He added, “And also there is one article in the National Security Act that needs the agreement of the Principals. The article which says the National Security have right to arrest with a warrant or not.”
Parties to the agreement are yet to graduate the first batch of the 83, 000 necessary unified forces provided for in Chapter Two of the peace agreement due to lack of consensus on joint command structure coupled with financial, and logistical constraints.
Time running out
The transitional period is due to end in less than 11 months, though the September 2018 peace deal provides for all the processes of cantonment, screening, registration, training, graduation, and deployment of the forces to be completed within the six months of the signing of the agreement.
But since the commencement of the transitional government in June 2020, parties have doubled the pre-transitional period, and they are now left with less than 11 months to complete the outstanding tasks. Both the government and opposition maintain parallel demands on the establishment of a joint arm command – the prerequisite for the forces graduation.
In September, armed parties –the SPLM-IG and SPLA-IO—rejected the IGAD’s proposed force contribution ratio demanding for 50:50 per cent ratio which President Kiir objected to, maintaining that it should be 60:40 per cent.
Last week the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO) Edmund Yakani called on the principal leaders to respect Sudan’s efforts in pushing for a lasting solution to the country’s protracted conflict.
“We hope that this will move fast and quickly in making sure that the unification of forces is implemented to provide the enabling environment for the call for general elections,” Yakani said.
