South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The European Union Ambassador in South Sudan, Timo Olkkonen, has called on the parties to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement to inject a new level of engagement in order to speed up the implementation of the agreement.
He was speaking during on Thursday during the board meeting of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) held at Beijing Hotel in Juba.
Olkkonen asked the parties to inject the same energy used to extend the transitional period into implementing the outstanding peace tasks such as the graduation and deployment of unified forces, enactment of the permanent constitution and also preparation for elections at the end of the transitional period in December 2026.
“Many questions are essential for the plan on how to move ahead with implementation of the agreement, such as the nature of the election to be held or the relation of the elections to the constitution,” he disclosed.
Olkkonen was referring to the concerns raised 15 months ago by the United Nations, AU and IGAD.
He said consensus can be forged and political decisions taken quickly if there is the necessary political will.
“We would expect to see a work plan for the implementation of the R-ARCSS with a clear timeline and budgets with confirmed government funding,” said Olkkonen.
Olkkonen said that the implementation of the peace agreement is not only a technical exercise but also requires addressing the key political issues.
“We cannot expect the independent commissions to take the major cross-cutting political decisions. Tackling technicalities without also addressing the key political issues would be putting the cart before the horse,” he said.
The parties to the 2018 peace agreement agreed on September 13, to extend the transitional period for another three years, eventually postponing elections that were due to take place in December 2024 to December 2026.
