Conflict hampers S Sudan
Peace accord threatened by warring factions
MIDRAND: The implementation of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, which was signed in August 2015 in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, is being hampered by the continued fighting between government forces and the armed followers of former first vice-president Riek Machar.
This assessment was underlined in a report presented yesterday to the fifth session of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand.
The report “Fact-finding mission of the permanent committee on co-operation, international relations and conflict resolution of the Pan African Parliament to the Republic of Sudan” outlines how the AU had supported pillars aimed at achieving transitional justice including a Hybrid Court, the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission and the Compensation Authority.
The report followed a fact-finding delegation sent to South Sudan to assess the political, peace, security and humanitarian situation in the country last month.
While in South Sudan the delegation met Ambassador Professor Joram Biswaro, who heads the AU Commission liaison office in the capital, Juba.
According to Biswaro the ongoing conflict was a leadership struggle between President Salva Kiir’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) which had degenerated into a seemingly ethic war between Kiir’s Dinka ethnic group and the Nuer tribe of Machar.
But the agreement’s slow implementation was also criticised for focusing only on the Dinkas and Nuers while leaving the other ethnic groups in the country.
At the end of its fact-finding mission the PAP team recommended an immediate cessation to hostilities to allow for dialogue, support from the international community as well as an international conference under the aegis of the AU, regional economic communities and the UN.
“The Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s (IGAD) High Level Revitalisation Forum should ensure that during the revitalisation process, all stakeholders, especially all political parties and representatives of the civil society are brought on board,” the delegation said.
They also advised the PAP, together with IGAD, to form part of the negotiation and conflict resolution mechanism.
In an interview with the African News Agency (ANA), Charles Mujak Deng, a member of the PAP, and of South Sudan’s National Assembly, said he believed in reconciliation and that Kiir wanted peace.
“However, there are foreign elements which have an interest in undermining this process because of South Sudan’s natural resources,” said Deng.
He also accused Machar of not caring about compromise and of only being interested in replacing Kiir as the president, following what he said was an attempted coup by the former opposition leader.
According to Deng, reports of atrocities by government forces were exaggerated by human rights groups and if the international community was really interested in peace then they needed to pressure Machar to negotiate a settlement.