Get South Sudan leaders to agree on peace roadmap, Yakani tells visiting Senegalese president

JUBA – Prominent South Sudanese activist Edmund Yakani is appealing to the visiting Senegalese President and Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Mack Sall to bring together rival South Sudanese leaders in order for them to agree on a roadmap for implementation of remaining tasks of the revitalized peace agreement.

Last Friday, the presidency said a committee tasked to develop a roadmap for implementation of remaining provisions of the revitalized peace agreement such as the security arrangements had summit the document to President Salva Kiir and a meeting of the presidency was set for next week.

But when contacted by Sudans Post, the SPLM-IO distanced itself from the roadmap and described it as a property of the ruling SPLM party under Kiir because the main armed opposition group, despite being a signatory of the agreement, was unable to take part in the development of the report.

Speaking to Sudans Post, Yakani who is the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) welcomed the arrival of the Senegalese president and said he can play an important role in his capacity as the head of the AU in bringing together the South Sudan parties for a deal in order to fully implement the revitalized agreement.

“I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the Senegalese President to the Republic of South Sudan who is also the incumbent chair of the African Union. The African Union has a big role to play in helping the South Sudanese parties in transforming the current situation where we are in to a political stable situation through the implementation of the R-ARCISS,” Yakani told Sudans Post in Juba.

“Let me take this opportunity by asking the president of Senegal who is also the chair of the African Union that he should meet our political leaders. Our political leaders right now are in a critical moment where they need to develop a roadmap to implement the pending tasks of the R-ARCISS,” he added.

The prominent activist said that he has “seen already conflicting messages coming from our parties around the development of the roadmap. So we hope the chairperson of AU who is the president of Senegal can play a big role to build consensus among our parties to develop a roadmap that is genuine and realistic, and can be implemented especially [on] the pending tasks around the transitional security arrangements and the question around transitional justice and at the same time a roadmap where they can commit themselves to deliver tasks that will lead the country credible and peaceful elections.”