A man carries the South Sudan flag at Magateen Internal Displaced
Persons (IDPs) centre during Riek Machar's visit to Juba on November 17,
2018. PHOTO | AKUOT CHOL | AFP South sudan
South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar is not ready to return to
Juba until security concerns are resolved, an official from his party
said on Wednesday.
Dr Machar, who was meant to return
to South Sudan in May and join a power-sharing government as
vice-president with President Salva Kiir after the signing of a peace
deal in September last year, wants to postpone the formation of a unity
government.
The deal is the latest effort to end almost
six years of conflict, which erupted due to a fall out between the two
leaders in 2013.
Observers, though, have been warning that implementation of the deal has stalled.
“We
are saying extend the period for more months, say six,” said Stephen
Kang Chol, representing Dr Machar’s SPLM-In opposition rebel group at
the National Pre-Transitional Committee (NPTC), the body charged with
implementing the peace agreement.
Dr Machar “will not come to Juba without security arrangements,” he said.
Dr Machar fled Juba in a hail of gunfire in 2016 in a clash
between his troops and government forces after the collapse of a
previous peace agreement. The latest deal has largely stopped fighting
in the country.
What is yet to be done
However,
crucial steps such as establishing a unified army and discussing
security control of the capital have yet to take place.
“We have not even trained few people, and it is a pre-requisite for forming the government,” said Mr Chol.
The
independent Eye Radio reported Wednesday that 3,000 opposition and
government troops were being trained together, although Mr Chol denied
this.
The other key issue yet to be addressed is the contentious matter of internal boundaries.
“You cannot form a government without knowing the number of states,” said Mr Chol.
“What we are saying is extend the time, provide the resources...And we will have the government in place.”
“What we are saying is extend the time, provide the resources...And we will have the government in place.”
The
government has asked foreign donors to fund lion’s share of its $285
million budget to implement the deal. But diplomats argue they have yet
to take important budgetary steps and improve transparency.
President
Kiir’s spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told Eye Radio that other opposition
figures were already in Juba, and this should tell Machar “that his
security will be taken care of while the government is formed.”
Dr
Machar had requested an extension of the eight-month pre-transitional
period by six months to put security structures in place, but President
Kiir rejected the request on the grounds that any delays would be an act
of bad faith in the eyes of the people at a time when the country is
ready for a new spirit and the dawn of a new sense of national unity.
James
Oryema, the SPLM-IO representative in Kenya, said that the objective
was to train and re-orient soldiers from wartime to peacetime.
“Without
this, we will be uniting forces with a war mentality to serve peaceful
time. This is a recipe for recurring of fighting between the forces.
SPLM-IO cannot be seen as spoilers when the fundamental articles within
the agreement is not implemented,” said Mr Oryema.
Meanwhile,
South Sudan intellectuals in the diaspora say President Kiir and Dr
Machar should stay out of the transitional government and use the time
to prepare for elections after three years.
In a paper
to the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) authored by
five South Sudanese academics in the US and Canada, they suggest
limiting participation of the two leaders to only the transitional
period of three years and not the later elections.
Security arrangements
The
authors concurred with SPLM-IO that while the Permanent Ceasefire and
Transitional Security Arrangements as provided in Article 2.1 were a
critical factor for confidence-building, there are concerns over past
experiences in dealing with the same intransigent mind-set offered by
the leaders of the SPLM
“The weakness of the ceasefire
provision was not intended but it lacks a strong compliance enforcement
mechanism and there are consequences for breaching protocol or failure
to respond in a timely manner,” they wrote.
They said
that the security arrangements, having led to the collapse of the 2015
agreements were salvaged without any significant empowerment. This means
that monitoring and verification mechanisms such as the Joint Military
Ceasefire Commission (JMCC), Area Joint Military Ceasefire Committee
(AJMCC) and Joint Military Ceasefire Teams (JMCT) remain weak.
Cirino
Hiteng, a former assistant minister for foreign affairs, said that the
signatories are going to face hard times ahead as they implement the
agreement and President Kiir is likely to ahead and form a government
without Dr Machar.
The authors are also concerned that
the selection criteria for assembly or cantonment sites is problematic
because it can be manipulated by all parties to the agreement to
displace rural communities and increase violence if local communities
resist the encroachment on their land, particularly in Equatoria and
Western Bahr el Ghazal states.
“The expectations are
that the transitional security arrangements will embrace the opportunity
to rebuild the armed forces and national security apparatus to reflect
the diversity of the country.
“However offers no
details or guarantees of any significant reforms in terms of the
composition of the armed forces and security organs,” they said.
All
the provision promises is absorption of those considered defectors into
the new SPLA outfit known as South Sudan National Defense Force.
They
say that there is fear that the disengagement, separation, cantonment,
disarmament, and screening of forces is designed as a one-sided process
intended to disempower and neutralise the opposition forces.
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