SPLM-IO official says gov’t intentionally withholding funding for peace implementation

JUBA – A South Sudan main armed opposition official has accused the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit of intentionally withholding funds for the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement saying claims that the country lack teh resources to fund the 2018 peace agreement are untrue.

“There is no any credible justification that South Sudan lack resources to fund the peace Process,” Nathaniel Pierino, former SPLM-IO governor of the defunct Imatong state said in a statement he extended to Sudans Post on Wednesday.

“The last fund for implementation was released in November of 2019 and it was a peanut. We could have understood that during the Pre Transitional Period it was ITGNU running the government single handedly and therefore may fail to release funds,” he added.

The senior opposition official said recent statement released by the Troika and foreign heads of mission over the revitalized peace agreement fall short of the current realities in the implementation of the peace agreement.

“The statements by Troika, EU and IGAD Special Envoy on the occasion of one year anniversary of transitional period are “hollow” and fall sort of the realities of Implementation of the peace agreement,” he said.

“I know the international community cannot and will never speak for us. They are bound by the prima facie notion and principles of the “sovereign equality of states” and “no interference in the internal matters of other states” etc. The statements by Troika, EU and IGAD only serve to embolden the peace spoilers and particularly elements within ITGNU that have been sabotaging the peace process,” he added.