CEPO Director Edmund Yakani | Photo: Awan Moses/Eye Radio.

Civil society activist Edmond Yakani says the lack of political will and mistrust among the peace parties have continued to hinder the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement.

Yakani was commenting on the meeting between President Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar twice to resolve the political crisis resulting from the sacking of the defense minister on March 4 2023.

The meeting, which has been postponed twice, is finally taking place today Friday, according to Goanar Gordon Yien, the Acting Press Secretary in the Office of the First Vice President.

The activist said the adjournment of the meeting is an indication that the two-year extension of the unity government may not bring tangible results.

“I would like to say there are two indicators that shown us early enough, that the 24 months are not going to help us, and the 24 months are going to end without any tangible results for implementing the pending tasks of the revitalized peace agreement.”

“The two challenges are the divisions among the principles at the level of the presidency for the genuine implementation of the revitalized peace agreement,” he said.

“This is demonstrated by the postponement of the meeting of the president and first vice president for the second time and we know that tomorrow is a time for the meeting.”

He further said the delayed deployment of forces also shows lack of political will and mistrust among the peace parties.

On March 4 2023, President Kiir dismissed Defense Minister Angelina Teny and transferred the ministry to his docket.

He also fired Interior Minister General Mahmoud Solomon and handed the Interior Ministry to the SPLM-IO.

However, Machar’s camp condemned the reshuffle and called for the revocation of the removal which was a violation of Chapter One of the 2018 peace deal.

In Wednesday, the Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint and Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) Charles Tai Gituai encouraged consultation among parties to resolve the differences over the removal of the defense minister and the ministerial changes.