The chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission says he is disappointed that the peace partners have failed to form a transitional government so far.

The JMEC had set 22nd of last month as the deadline for both parties to form the government of national unity.

“I am slightly disappointed. Disappointed that I am not here today to see a new transitional government in place. Disappointed that another date has come and gone,” Festis Gontebanye said in a statement to open a JMEC meeting in Juba this morning.

“This disappointment stems not solely because a day on a calendar was missed, but because the potential, the opportunity, the possibility of a new government is so close, so vital for this country, that it must be taken,” he said.

“Every day we spend here I think of the children I met growing up without the chance of education, the chance of bettering their own lives denied through no fault of their own. When will independence make a difference for these people? For all of your people?”

The government, the SPLM in Opposition are in the meeting.

Mr Festus set out his expectations:

To take practical and immediate action to complete the tasks necessary to establish the Transitional Government of National Unity;

2. To agree on the urgency of introducing phased arrangements for the transitional security arrangements necessary for the capital city, Juba, and how the work of the other transitional security institutions can be accelerated;

3. To identify, further to previous commitments, any additional steps that can be taken by the Parties to ensure constraints on humanitarian access are removed.