A new row has cropped up between the government, the SPLM in Opposition and the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission over a list of ministerial nominees and the powers of the body monitoring the implementation of the peace deal.

The JMEC would like to facilitate a meeting between President Salva Kiir and Dr Riek Machar on the first day of his arrival in Juba, a move the government has rejected.

The government also wanted to have, in advance, a list of ministerial nominees for the SPLM-IO, but the opposition said Dr Riek would come with the list.

The controversies stemmed from separate letters the chairman of the commission, Festus Mogae, wrote to both the government and Dr Riek Machar last week.

The correspondences were part of enduring arrangements undertaken for the return to Juba of Dr Riek, who has either been shuttling between foreign capitals or in some remote swathes of the country since the conflict erupted more than two years ago.

In the letter dated 5 April, Mr Mogae told Dr Machar about how 1,370 opposition soldiers would be transported to Juba in time.

Mr Mogae said Dr Machar and the accompanying delegation of 75 would then be in Juba this week for the formation of a government of national unity on Thursday.

“As agreed with the Government of South Sudan, the inauguration of the transitional government of national unity and appointment of ministers will occur on Thursday, 14 April, with a first meeting of the transitional council of ministers on Friday, 15 April,” he told Dr Machar.

Before the inauguration, which would be proceeded by the reconstitution of the bicameral parliament, Mr Mogae also said the Ethiopian government would have taken the weapons of the opposition soldiers to Juba.

“I am prepared, should you wish, to facilitate the first meeting between yourself and President Kiir, and would suggest this could be arranged on the afternoon of your arrival,” Mr Mogae said.

In his response dated 6 April, Dr Machar first commended the progress made in transporting some of his security forces to Juba.

He said he was looking forward to the transportation to Juba of the armaments of the security personnel as planned.

Dr Machar then concluded that the plan for him to be in Juba on the 12 April was not “workable”, without elaborating.

“We have programed my arrival in Juba for April 18,”Dr Machar said in a letter.

“As for other issues you raised, those would be concluded after my arrival,” he said.

Dr Machar did not explain his delay. But in a previous statement, a spokesperson of the advance team in Juba, Sebit Magok, said his leader would meet the South Sudanese community in Ethiopia on 10 April. On 12 and 13 April, he would be meeting some organizations in Pagak.

These activities, Magok said, would engage Dr Machar until a later date, which Dr Riek himself confirmed would be April 18.

Letter to the government

It also emerged last week that Mr Mogae had written a similar letter to the government.

But despite the impression in Mogae’s later to Dr Machar that the schedule had been agreed upon with the government, ministers insisted they were not consulted.

“Nevertheless, we adopted it because we are in search of peace and this is to indicate and tell the people of South Sudan that we are serious; we are for peace,” said Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth, after a meeting of the Council of Ministers in Juba.

“We adopted it because there are so many doubting Thomases who have ever been saying that the government of South Sudan is not serious in terms of the implementation of the agreement,” he said, referring to a Biblical narrative of a disciple who dared touch the wounds in the palms and the ribs before he could believe Jesus was crucified dead and resurrected on the third day.

“We’ve ever been saying that the problem is not on our side but the problem is on the other side,” he said.

They, however, raised their eyebrows about the commission facilitating the meeting between the President and the designate First Vice President.

Questioning JMEC mandate

“There is no room for the JMEC to facilitate a meeting between the President and his Vice President. This is not within the mandate of the JMEC. I’m a member of JMEC and we don’t need to jump into issues that are not our concern,” Mr Makuei said.

“Meeting between Vice President and President is a process that is usually handled by the protocol officers as usual. So there is nothing that needs JMEC to come in and facilitate,” he said.

According to the peace agreement, JMEC is responsible for monitoring and overseeing the implementation of the deal, including adherence to agreed timelines and implementation schedules.

It’s also mandated to oversee the work of institutions created under the deal such as the Economic and Financial Management Authority, the Strategic Defense and Security Review Board, and the National Elections Commission.

The commission is to report regularly, in writing, to the transitional Council of Ministers, the Transitional National Assembly, the IGAD Council of Ministers, the African Union, and to the Secretary-General and Security Council of the United Nations on the status of implementation every three months.

New list of ministerial nominees

Another sticking point of dispute was the submission of the list of nominees to be appointed ministers in the next government. The former detainees have submitted their nominees; the SPLM in Opposition has not, while it is yet to be established if other stakeholders have done so.

The Council of Ministers said the initial arrangement was for the list to be presented to the President early.

“If the President does not receive the list of the SPLM-IO nominees to the transitional government of national unity, then this definitely marks the beginning of another violation of a program set,” the ministers added.

By Friday, Mr Makuei said the government still expected Dr Machar in Juba as scheduled by the JMEC, but not as reset by Dr Riek himself.

When contacted by the Eye, the SPLM in Opposition said Dr Riek would personally submit his list to JMEC on arrival to Juba and after meeting with President Salva Kiir.

“It’s not something secret. When it happens, it happens in the front of the media,” William Ezekiel, the spokesman of the advance team in Juba, said in response to the enquiries by the Eye.

“When the First Vice President definitely arrives in Juba, he is going to meet with the President and he will also submit his list to JMEC,” Mr Ezekiel explained.

“So why should we present [the list] while he himself is the guy to present and he is not here?”

IO retreat

In this cloud of disagreement, the SPLM in Opposition issued another contradicting statement, saying Dr Riek might not arrive in Juba even on 18 April he had set. But the group later beat a hasty retreat and apologized over the contradiction.

In a statement issued by the military spokesperson, Col William Gatjath, the IO criticized the JMEC and Troika, asking why they “interfere deeply to compromise the security arrangements on one side by reducing the agreed number of 2,910 to 1,370 on the side of the SPLA-IO.”

The reduction of the number of troops was agreed upon at a previous meeting of the JMEC, in which the opposition is represented by two members, government by two, and two for both the former detainees and other political parties. The US and Norway – two of the Troika Countries – are each represented by one member among the 7 international guarantors.

Mr Ezekiel also said his boss would come to Juba one week after “proper demilitarization within Juba”.

But over the weekend, Col Gatjath retracted the statement and confirmed Dr Machar would be in Juba next Monday.