By Aweye Teddy Onam
The Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) in a press release on Thursday 09th 2023, has called on the peace parties to live up to the spirit of the Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan.
“We urge the Parties to observe the letter and spirit of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) which is founded on collaboration, consultation and agreement between the Parties,” part of the press release seen by No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper reads.
The RJMEC statement comes in the wake of political standoff between President Salva Kiir SPLM party and his first deputy and main opposition rival Dr. Riek Machar’s SPLM-IO party following the sacking of defense minister Angelina Teny which the IO protested and called for her reinstatement.
The peace monitoring body R-JMEC then directed the parties to the agreement “to break the deadlock” by compromise.
“If there is a deadlock between the Parties to the Agreement, a referral can be made to RJMEC pursuant to Article 7:11 of the R-ARCSS to engage the parties with a view of finding a compromise and recommending measures to break the deadlock,” it noted.
The R-JMEC call came after President Salva Kiir, and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar got locked in disagreements over removal of the Minister of Defense Angelina Teny, and Interior Minister as on the 3rd of March, 2023 in a decree issued by President Kiir.
The decree also swapped the Ministry of Defense which was under SPLM-IO to SPLM under President Kiir.
The move was met with political disagreements between SPLM-IO of First Vice President Riek Machar, and President Kiir of SPLM.
The principals were set to meet and discuss the issue but the meeting has been adjourned two times, with the latest scheduled for today, Friday.
And R-JMEC welcomed the meeting of the two leaders to see a way forward from the disagreements, and urged for quick solution so that the agreement moves ahead.
“R-JMEC welcomes the decision of the President and the First Vice president to meet and discuss the issue of the removal of the Minister of Defense and Veteran Affairs and the swapping of the two ministries. It is important that this issue be resolved as soon as possible so that the Peace Agreement can continue to be implemented in a timely manner.”