Kiir has reportedly proposed extension of transitional period

JUBA – South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit has reportedly proposed extension of the transitional period and a meeting to discuss the proposal has been set for next week with his five deputies, a senior government official has claimed.

“I am aware that the president and the SPLM party have come up with a proposal to extend the transitional period and a meeting of the presidency which the presidency announced on Thursday will discuss that proposal next week after the Eid,” the official who requested not to be named said.

In his national address marking the 11^th independence anniversary, President Salva Kiir said that a road map for implementation of the remaining provisions of the revitalized peace agreement has been development and will be tabled to the presidency during a meeting which he is taking place soon.

“While what I have mentioned are key areas we need to address urgently, I would like to inform you that a roadmap that will guide us on how the Transitional Period will end has been developed,” he said on Saturday morning.

“This roadmap provides timelines for the completion of the outstanding provisions in the Agreement. In the coming days, we are going to convene a meeting of the parties to the Agreement to discuss this Roadmap,” Kiir added.

He said the development of the said roadmap was very “important because we want the Agreement to end peacefully through the conduct of fair, transparent and credible elections.”

STRUGGLE TO IMPLEMENT PEACE DEAL

Opposition leader Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin said in a statement marking the independence anniversary that the parties are not willing to implement the revitalized peace agreement and that it is 46 month into its signing without remarkable progress made.

“Our people breathed a sigh of relief when the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) was signed in Addis Ababa on 12 September 2018 thinking that it will pave the way for a democratic and prosperous country,” he said.

“Alas, 46 months now and we are still struggling to implement provisions of the agreement that should have been completed on or before 12 May 2019. It is an understatement to say that the implementation is going at a snail’s speed,” he added.

OPPOSITION MEETING OUTSIDE SOUTH SUDAN

Akol said further said the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement is now coming to an end without its provisions being translated into reality and that it was only a few months before the end of the transitional period.

“As the Revitalized Agreement stipulated, our country was to begin the elections process 34 months into the transitional period so that the elected government assumes office by 22 February 2023 to usher our country into a democratic era,” he said.

“Today, we are less than six months to the date set for the elections and nothing has been done in terms of creating a level space for free, fair and credible elections. All this for the lack of political will. No elections can be conducted under the current suffocating conditions,” he added.

He said the extension of the transitional period should not the alternative because doing so would mean rewarding the failure of the agreement and then called for an opposition meeting outside South Sudan to agree on the way forward.

“However, the alternative is not the extension of the transitional period under the current government whose legitimacy and mandate expire on 22 February 2023. Doing so is tantamount to rewarding deliberate failure to implement the agreement,” Akol said.

“The NDM position is for the political forces in the country including the hold-out groups to join their brothers in the civil society organizations in a round table conference outside the country to discuss and agree on the way forward for our country to alleviate the suffering our people have been reeling under before and after independence,” he added.

He further said that “No current configuration of transitional arrangements will deliver South Sudan, we have to shift gear.”