By Ephraim Modi D.S
The Minister of Cabinet Affairs Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro yesterday disclosed that the President has called on the representatives of the parties to the peace agreement for an extended meeting to listen to the roadmap and make contributions whereas necessary.
Dr. Lomuro made the statement while addressing the 23rd Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC) plenary held in Juba on Thursday.
Last week, the President received a roadmap as presented by the committee he tasked to draft a roadmap on the status of the execution of the remaining provisions of the Revitalized Peace Agreement.
The draft document is meant to guide the country towards the end of the transitional period that nears its elapse and lays a path for the country to conduct peaceful and democratic elections as per the agreement.
Minister Dr. Lomuro assured that the roadmap is actually a mathematics of how long it takes to implement the remaining critical factors and some of the provisions which depend on the implementation of another activity.
“The rest will be made public once the roadmap is owned by the parties to the agreement,” he reassured the members at the meeting.
He noted that the implementation of the agreement has delayed because there are many activities to be implemented one after the other.
Dr. Lomuro added that South Sudan has been peaceful since the signing of the agreement in terms of politically motivated conflicts which is a testimony to the parties to the agreement not to return the country to war.
He further stated that the pre-transitional period is purely consumed on preparation for the implementation of the agreement.
The transitional period is nearing an end and so the question of how this final phase will be handled is important.
The IGAD International Partners Forum (IPF) has reminded the parties to the Revitalized Peace Agreement that the question of what happens in the final stages of the transition is not an issue for the government alone.
IPF also said they welcome the announcements on the draft of the roadmap, with hopes that the follow up to the call will be handled in the spirit of the Revitalized Peace Agreement for a desire of seeing a due process by opening up to all stakeholders including the civil society and all the opposition groups within and outside the country.
The Interim Chairperson of RJMEC Maj. General Charles Tai Gituai CBS recommended the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU) to fast-track the process for the consideration and adoption of the agreed final roadmap.