By Mary Poni
The Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) Edmund Yakani is urging the unity government to immediately redeploy the recently graduated unified forces to protect civilians and their properties amid the recurring inter-communal conflicts.
He said though some of them expressed some positive feelings after seeing improvement on the transitional security arrangements implementations suited by the graduation of the unified forces in Juba, Maridi and in Torit, they are yet to see real impact.
The activist noted that the members of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) who are friends of South Sudan have expressed high level of disappointment for the slow implementation of the revitalized peace agreement in the resolution of conflict in South Sudan.
“After the outcome of UN assembly meeting in New York, I would like to take this opportunity to call upon our leaders to focus their energy on the task of redeploying the graduated unified forces” he urged.
“Starting from today until the end of the transitional period, an immediate redeployment of the graduated unified forces with the focus of increasing the capacity in providing protection of civilian, respect to human rights and application of the rule of law should be implemented,” he added.
Yakani requested that when the state decides to redeploy the forces, they should open up a dialogue with the UN peacekeeping missions specifically the units in uniforms military and police to build senates of redeployment of forces for strengthening the capacity on protection of civilians.
He further noted that he hopes before the national parliament breaks for their recess, all the armaments of the legislations that are summited to them should be acted before they could break for their research.”
He stressed that the presidency should reconstitute the four institutions which comprises political party council, the national election commission, the national constitutional review commission and the national judiciary commission before the end of this month in order to ensure that political processes are rolled out in accordance with the provisions of the revitalized peace agreement.
“I would like to call on the presidency and the political leadership in the Country that it is very important to open a civic space for dialogue,” he cited.
“The country is going to mark 21st of September as the international peace day, I hope that the message of the president on marking the date should be focusing on opening the civic space and political space for effective participation of political parties, civil societies and citizens on the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement,” he hinted.
He reiterated that it is very important for the political leaders of this country to take their primary responsibility of delivering the transitional security arrangements and the reforms that were proposed by the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
“I urge our leaders that the UN Security Council meeting outcome is calling for them to renew their political pledge to deliver the country from violence,” he asserted.