SSOA, FDs and OPP boycott R-JMEC meeting in solidarity with SPLM-IO

JUBA – At least three South Sudan opposition groups who are signatories to the revitalized peace agreement on Thursday boycotted a peace meeting organized by the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC) to demonstrate solidarity with the SPLM-IO.

On Monday, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny suspended its participation in the peace monitoring mechanisms, R-JMEC, and CTSAMVM, to protest continued attacks from the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF).

In the wake of the SPLM-IO protest, the R-JMEC organized a meeting of its members comprising members of the party-signatories to the revitalized peace agreement to discuss the critical development in the implementation of R-ARCISS which many observers warn may destroy the peace agreement.

But representatives of South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), Other Political Parties (OPP) and SPLM Former Detainees (FDs) failed to show up for the meeting raising concerns from the organizers as  representatives of President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s ruling SPLM-IO faction only showed up.

Speaking during the meeting, R-JMEC’s interim leader Major General Charles Tai Gittuai said the failure of the opposition representatives to show up at the meeting was “unfortunate’ and that there would be no resolutions for the meeting because they didn’t show up.

“Due to the absence of five individuals from other political parties, there will be no resolutions,” Gittuai told the meeting Thursday.

‘Coordinated process’

Speaking to Sudans Post this evening, several opposition officials said the boycott of the meeting was coordinated in solidarity with the SPLM-IO to send a strong message to the government of President Salva Kiir who they accused of appearing to be manipulating the implementation process of the agreement.

“This was a coordinated process and we are doing that because in our watch, the government happening to be manipulating the implementation of the agreement in a way that does not match with the document that we all negotiated in Khartoum and signed in Addis Ababa in September 2018,” the SSOA official who requested not to be named said.

Another official of the OPP told Sudans Post separately that “we are planning to further the coordination of the opposition parties because the SPLM-IG because it has power in Juba is dismantling the peace agreement and today it is an SPLM-IO issue, but tomorrow it will be against other political groups.”