President Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar. Photo credit: Courtesy

A Civil society representative to the revitalized peace deal has suggested a regular presidential meeting to discuss the speedy implementation of the peace agreement.

Edmond Yakani who heads the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization says the implementation of the 2018 peace deal is slow and needs the attention of the Presidency.

The peace government is yet to explore all possible avenues to provide the needed resources, including funds and food, to complete the training of forces for the unified national army.

Other outstanding issues include the need for the parties to resolve matters concerning the unified command and control structure, and force ratios.

According to the implementation matrix of the peace deal, many provisions should have been implemented by now.

Multiple reports suggest that most of the ambitious reforms have not been initiated or completed.

In May 2019, the pre-interim period was extended by six months, after the SPLM/A IO leader Dr. Riek Machar requested for more time to implement key parts of the security arrangements.

At the end of the six months, they again extended the pre-transitional period by 100 days.

It ended in February 2020 when President Salva Kiir appointed Dr. Riek Machar and other vice presidents which marked the beginning of the three-year Transitional Period.

But two years after the presidency and the cabinet were formed, the unified army is not yet deployed as their graduation has been postponed several times.

Edmund Yakani is now appealing to President Salva Kiir and his deputies to meet regularly to discuss obstacles hindering the implementation of the peace agreement.

“The regular meeting of the Presidency which is headed by the President and then deputized by the First Vice President and other Vice Presidents is a platform of a continuous, of what the President described as sustainable dialogue”, Edmond Yakani told Eye Radio on the Dawn Show on Tuesday morning.

“The President is supposed to regularly call for that mechanism because any decision that comes out of that mechanism is a decision that the Presidency has agreed and it is a South Sudanese political party’s decision that is binding upon everybody’s opinion”, Yakani urged.

The parties to the peace agreement, particularly SPM-IG and SPLM-IO have been issuing unilateral statements and accusations against each other over violations of the agreement.