South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The regional body Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on Sunday appointed Major General (rtd) George Aggrey Owinow to head the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) in South Sudan.
Owinow who replaces Charles Tai Gituai was nominated by the Kenyan government, and subsequently endorsed by the IGAD, said a statement issued by RJMEC in Juba.
Gituai served has since August 2020 served as the interim chairperson of RJMEC.
“Owinow has had a distinguished military and diplomatic career spanning more than four decades, serving in different security and diplomatic missions in Africa,” said the statement.
It noted that Owinow brings recent experience as Kenya’s high commissioner to the Republic of Uganda (2020-2022) and as Deputy Force Commander for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) (2019-2020).
“With just two weeks to the beginning of the extended transitional period, his arrival comes at an important juncture of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), where a range of critical pending tasks need to be implemented to pave the way for elections in December 2026,” it said.
In September 2024, the peace monitoring body endorsed the extension of the transitional period for the transitional unity government and the postponement of national elections for two years.
Under the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, signed in 2018 to end the civil war, the South Sudanese government was supposed to be dissolved on Sept. 22 and hold elections in December 2024.
