By Ephraim Modi Duku Sokiri
Board members and representatives of peace parties to the Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism (CTSAMVM) has rejected the ceasefire monitoring body report produced and presented to them during the opening session held in Juba yesterday.
CTSAMVM Board constitutes of members of the signatory parties to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflicts in South Sudan and the international community including non-political stakeholders such as the women’s, Youth, Civil Society and the Academia.
Speaking at the event, the representative from the Former Political Detainees signatory to the R-ARCSS (FD) Maj. Gen. Bior Leek said he had a concern about the report that was verified by the national monitors on ground who had been on strike.
“I have a concern about the report that has not been generated from the ground, Monitoring and Verification Mechanism team (MVTs) are not working, has not been discussed by CTC and passed the report,” he said.
“So, chairperson, I am not ready to discuss any report that has been generated by the intelligent from unknown sources.”
Meanwhile, Okello Lawiri, the representative from the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) also added his voice rejecting the report.
“If this agenda is not passed by the CTSAMVM Technical Committee (CTC), it is not discussed by the CTC, it is going to be difficult for us as board to discuss this,” said Okello.
“So, I don’t think that it is appropriate for us to approve an agenda which has not been discussed by the CTC.”
Okello further demanded that the agenda should be returned to CTC to be reviewed and discussed and then passed to the board for deliberations and approval.
He also echoed that there will be no verified data collection on violation if the National Monitors are not working.
Another member from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), Regina Joseph Kaba, also rejected the report and called for adjournment of the board meeting
“If the CTC did not sit and agreed on the agenda, I don’t think we will continue with this meeting because we will always as we know, the report will always originate from CTC when they discussed their meeting then we the Board will come and discuss also and …we can forward,” she said.
Reacting to the concerns, the chairperson of CTSAMVM Lt. Gen. Asrat Denero Amad admitted that the CTC has not discussed the report.
“It is correct, the CTC members did not discuss on this report but the (report) did not come from spies, the report came from MVT, it was discussed based on the MVTs,” said the chairperson of CTSAMVM Gen.
“We can hold this board meeting …if your concerns are voted by the members of the board and also, we can discuss some second point,” he said.
CTSAMVM national Monitoring and Verification Teams (MVTs) located in 9 of the most conflict affected areas of the country.
The MVTs patrol their areas of responsibility and gather information on potential violations of the agreement which they immediately report to their headquarters in Juba for further action.