[Juba, South Sudan, TCT] The civil society in South Sudan has decried the lack of support by United Nations and the international community to the peace agreement implementation.
Speaking in Juba during a meeting with a delegation from the UN Security Council, the civil society leaders said that commitments made by the international community to provide funding in support of the implementation process have been slow in coming.
In an interview reported by Radio Miraya, one of the representatives the government appears to be facing challenges in implementing the peace agreement.
“If lack of funding is slowing down the implementation of the peace agreement, the UN Security Council should sit with the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and see how the funding can be secured to push the implementation of the agreement forward,” said Sunday Betty, head of the Women’s Monthly Forum.
While welcoming the deployment of the regional forces in the country, they added that there was need for awareness creation about its mandate, to do away with misconceptions about the role of the UN-sanctioned force.
Yesterday, the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) agreed to the deployment of the regional protection force, as part of the UN Mission in South Sudan. The government said the deployment of the protection force will improve the security situation in the country, which had deteriorated since the eruption of the most recent skirmishes in July.
The UN Security Council delegation, which was led by US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power and the Permanent Representative of the Missions of Senegal, Fode Seck, was on a three-day visit to South Sudan.
Besides meeting President Salva Kiir and other government officials, they met with representatives of South Sudan’s civil society. The meeting aimed to get the views of the civil society on the security situation in the country and the impact of the conflict on communities.
The civil society organizations said the issue of protection needs to be addressed urgently, adding that thousands of people are fleeing the country because of insecurity.
Earlier, in an interview with TCT, Edmund Yakani, CEO of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) said IGAD had not done much to facilitate the implementation of the peace agreement.
“They failed to work on the matters of trust and confidence building among the peace parties’ leadership,’ he said. Mr. Yakani urged regional leaders and the world community to support South Sudan in resolving their political differences in a non-violent way. He chided some leaders for taking side in the conflict, which was worsening the situation.
He said the only way South Sudan would avoid going the Rwandan way in the 1990s is through supporting an urgent settlement of the political crisis.
Yakani argued that the only potential approach for restoring peace in South Sudan is through building of national institutions that place citizens’ interest first before politicians’ self or group interest.
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