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  • REMARKS BY H.E. AMB. LT. GEN. AUGOSTINO S.K. NJOROGE INTERIM CHAIRPERSON AFRICAN UNION PEACE AND SECURITY COUNCIL 905TH MEETING MONDAY, 27 JANUARY 2020 ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

REMARKS BY H.E. AMB. LT. GEN. AUGOSTINO S.K. NJOROGE INTERIM CHAIRPERSON AFRICAN UNION PEACE AND SECURITY COUNCIL 905TH MEETING MONDAY, 27 JANUARY 2020 ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

Monday, 27 January 2020 15:25

Chairperson of the Peace and Security Council; Commissioner of Peace and Security;
Your Excellencies Permanent Representatives; Excellencies;

Ladies and Gentlemen. Your Excellency,

  1. Let me start by wishing this Council a happy New Year.

  2. It is my honour, as the Interim Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), to address this Council today.

  3. My briefing to this Council today builds on the one I delivered on the 14th of November 2019 and will focus on the status of implementation of the Pre-Transitional tasks of the Revitalized Peace Agreement, highlighting challenges, my observations, and then I will conclude with recommendations.

  4. Your Excellency, you will recall that during my last briefing to this Council, I stated that while some progress had been made in the implementation of the pre-transitional tasks of the Revitalized Peace Agreement, a lot of work still remained to be done in order to achieve its full implementation. Indeed, that had been my message when I addressed this Council in October 2019, and unfortunately, this is

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still my message today despite mobilization of troops to cantonment sites and training centres.

Your Excellency,

  1. There are two critical pending tasks whose implementation is necessary for the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU) on a solid foundation. They are the unification of forces and the resolution of the outstanding issue of the number of states and their boundaries. I would like to take this opportunity to update you on these two issues.

  2. Firstly, the unification of forces. I am encouraged that thousands of troops have reported to designated training centres, having been transported from cantonment sites. The joint training necessary to harmonise the combatants with the other organized troops as per the curriculum agreed on, is yet to begin. There are however preliminary training activities ongoing in some training centres while awaiting screening of all the forces, to enable the formal joint training of unified forces.

  3. Secondly, the issue of the number of states and their boundaries remains outstanding despite several efforts to resolve it. As per the directive of the IGAD Council of Ministers, the IGAD Special Envoy for South Sudan convened two rounds of meetings in December 2019 and January this year. H.E. David Mabuza, the Deputy PresidenT of the Republic of South Africa, and the Regional Special Envoys facilitated these meetings. The second meeting adjourned on the 16thof January this year with a proposal to the Parties to consider the establishment of an Arbitration Committee to settle the matter. All the Parties were given a week to deliberate on the proposal.

Your Excellency,

  1. There are some other concerns worthy of mention. Firstly, although it is encouraging to note that the Permanent Ceasefire continues to hold, there have been violations of this Ceasefire in the area of Maiwut, in the Upper Nile area of South Sudan, caused by defection and change of loyalty by a commander of the SPLM/A-IO forces. The acceptance of this defection by the Government caused troops loyal to the defecting commander to clash with SPLM/A-IO forces loyal to Dr. Riek Machar. These clashes resulted in the loss of lives and displacement of civilian population, hence a violation of the Permanent Ceasefire. I understand that the SSPDF and SPLM/A-IO leadership have taken steps to address the situation in Maiwut.

  2. The second area of concern is the slow pace of implementation of the pre-transitional tasks due to delayed funding and the lack of effective coordination between the Agreement implementing Mechanisms.

  3. Funds were not availed to the implementing mechanisms until the 17th of December 2019, 35 days into the 100 days extension.

 

Furthermore, despite being jointly facilitated with an implementation workshop by the IGAD, AU and RJMEC, the implementing Agreement Mechanisms have not performed as expected.

Your Excellency,

11. In closing, and in view of the above, I would like to offer the following recommendations:

  1. a)  that the Council appeals to the Government of the Republic of South Sudan to continue providing the funds necessary for the implementation of the outstanding Pre-Transitional tasks;

  2. b)  that the Council urges the leaders of the Parties to the Agreement to ensure that implementation of the outstanding Pre-Transitional tasks is expedited to enable the RTGoNU to be formed in a timely manner;

  3. c)  that the Council appeals to the Government and the Parties to the Agreement to compromise in order to resolve the outstanding issue of the number of states and their boundaries to enable the formation of the RTGoNU on a solid foundation;

  4. d)  that the Council further appeals to the international community, Partners and Friends of South Sudan to continue supporting the implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement; and

  5. e)  lastly, the Council remains seized with the matter.

    I thank you.

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