Kiir says peace implementation difficult because it has ‘not been made before in any country’

JUBA – South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit has again said that the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement which he signed with several opposition groups in September 2018 is very difficult because it has not been signed in any other country in the region before.

The president made the remarks during a function at Dr. John Garang De Mabior Mausoleum on Thursday in a peace function organized for the arrival of the Vatican Secretary of State His Imminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin who arrived in the country on Monday on behalf of Pope Francis who had to cancel his trip to the country due to a knee problem.

Speaking to the citizens at the function which was attended by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny and the other four vice presidents, Kiir told the Vatican official to inform Pope Francis that the agreement is being implemented with difficulties which he blamed on the way the agreement was designed.

“So, Your Imminence if the Holy Father ask you about the implementation of the peace agreement, tell him that the agreement is being implemented but with difficulties. It is with difficulties because this sort of agreement has not been made before in any country in our region,” he said.

The South Sudanese head of state however reiterated his commitment to the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement despite the difficulties.

“But we have accepted to implement it because if I was not for peace, I would have not accepted it. I would have not accepted it because in the countries around us or in the countries in Africa, there is not country with five vice presidents,” he added.

It is not the first time for Kiir to make similar comments against the implementation process of the revitalized peace agreement.

Speaking during the opening session of a workshop on permanent constitution-making process in Juba in May last year, Kiir stated that the revitalized peace agreement was very complicated and difficult to implement claiming that it wasn’t designed to be implemented by the mediators.

“The Revitalized Agreement for Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan is very complicated and difficult to implement. It’s implementation requires us to routinely solve problems along the way,” the South Sudanese head of state said.

“Unfortunately that delay is being misunderstood by our partners and interpret it as a lack of political will from our part,” he added.

LACK OF WILL

Regional and international communities have accused the parties to the revitalized peace agreement of lacking the will to implement the agreement as government has complained that international sanctions and arms embargo imposed in 2018 is hampering efforts to implement the deal.

Opposition groups such as the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) under First Vice President Machar and the National Democratic Movement (NDM) led by Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin have accused the president’s ruling party of lacking the will to implement it.

The international community has also expressed its frustration about the lack of will with regional bloc IGAD, which mediated the agreement, revealing this week that the United States of America, the largest donor to the peace process, has significantly reduced its funding to the implementation process of the agreement.