IGAD has ‘failed’ to act against South Sudan peace violators — PCCA

JUBA — The People’s Coalition for Civil Action (PCCA) has said the Intergovernmental Authority of Development (IGAD) which mediated the revitalised peace agreement has failed to lay down clear consequences for those violating the 2018 peace agreement.

The group which is considered ‘hostile’ by the government in Juba said the security arrangements, which provides for reunification of the rival forces, has failed to reflect the power balance on the ground where the government has upper hand and thus raising government intransigence.

“Second, we strongly feel that the Transitional Security Arrangements brought about by the R-ARCSS failed to reflect the true power ratio equations in South Sudan,” the PCCA said in a memo addressed to IGAD executive secretary.

“The truth of the power equation was that the government had a clear advantage on the ground and the opposition were weak. What created the needed stalemate at the time was regional and international pressure, which dissipated after the signing of the R-ARCSS,” it added.

The group argued in the memo that the regional bloc has not set up clear penalties against those violating the agreement and has made it cheap for the government to violate it having in mind that there is no accountability for its actions.

“This means that the cost of breaking the agreement was near zero for the government. IGAD, with this knowledge, failed to provide a remedy to raise the costs for any violator. The government knows this, so it has broken the agreement at virtually no cost,” it said.

“Other than condemnation letters, IGAD has no additional tools with which to enforce compliance. This begs a question, who is the guarantor of this agreement?” The group wandered.

The group said the people, as well as the opposition, have been forced into accepting an agreement that endorses the status quo which there by extend the life of what the group called an authoritarian regime.

“Furthermore, if there was not going to be any military guarantee for the agreement, as it is now apparent, perhaps the citizens should have been factored into the arrangement to provide the needed balance of power. The agreement did none of this,” it said.

“The oppositions and the citizens have all been duped into accepting an arrangement that is essentially an endorsement of the status quo and by extension an endorsement of the establishment of a brutal, and unaccountable, authoritarian regime,” it added.

The group reiterated that the government in Juba “is a city-state authoritarian regime without the capacity to wield power beyond Juba, the seat of government.”