South Sudan parties disagree over ceasefire mechanism in Rome

JUBA – South Sudan parties at the talks in Rome have disagreed over ceasefire monitoring mechanism, after General Thomas Cirilo demanded that the Rome mediation monitor the agreement instead of the IGAD-led CTSAMVM, senior opposition official told Sudans Post this morning.

“The government delegation has rejected our demand that the Rome mediation monitor the ceasefire agreement. We said that the current body, CTSAMVM, cannot monitor well the ceasefire and as such there is need for separate body to monitor the agreement and that should be the Sant’Egidio Community,” one senior opposition official said.

“Therefore, the talks are in deadlock with only one day remaining because talks will end tomorrow Monday,” the official said.

South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) and the government of South Sudan have been meeting in Rome since yesterday, to try to negotiate end to the conflict in the world’s youngest country.

Fighting has been going on in several parts of Central Equatoria between forces of the opposition National Salvation Front (NAS)and the South Sudan People’s Defense  Forces (SSPDF) in violation to a January commitment to a 2017 ceasefire agreement.

The SSOMA is not an signatories to teh revitalized peace agreement signed by the government and several opposition groups in September 2018 in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

They had pulled out of talk after accusing the government in Juba of monopoly over the talks.