JMEC chairman speech on 2 February
6 min readOpening Statement by His Excellency Festus G. Mogae, Chairperson of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), at the meeting of JMEC held in Juba on 2 February 2016
Excellencies, distinguished representatives, ladies and gentlemen:
Good morning. As you know, I returned yesterday from Addis Ababa, where I, and others, participated in various meetings of the African Union as well as that of IGAD, and I am eager to discuss the outcomes of these meetings with you. Some of you may have already seen the statements and reports I offered in Addis Ababa, which are officially publicly available. And I will return to the themes I expressed in those meetings in a moment.
Excellencies,
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. 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. 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? Africa has too many lost generations already. I sincerely believe that you – the people in this room, the South Sudanese here today – don’t want to be complicit in losing another. Let us use the opportunity we have had ourselves – our collective dozens of degrees, our intellectual resources – not to hunt for faults and technicalities in every matter, but to move the country and the peace process forward. To move every region of the country forward. To ensure that we aren’t imprisoned by our past and our past wrongs. To ensure that our children – your children – know that to be South Sudanese is to mean something other than just misery and despair.
When I left South Sudan in January, the South Sudanese pound was under 20 to the dollar. Today, I am told, it is close to 30. As a former central bank governor, as a former official at the IMF, I know how difficult it is for the economy to be managed in unstable times. But I plead with you to avoid ruin: form the transitional government of national unity without further delay, restore stability, repair the damage that has been done before it is too late, so that urgent economic assistance can become available.
Of course, sound macroeconomic management in itself will not address South Sudan’s humanitarian crisis. I am staggered that things have been allowed to get this bad, and I continue to urge you, the leaders of South Sudan, to do whatever you can to ensure the humanitarian effort is successful. I was told this morning that one of the ceasefire monitoring teams, which recently visited Mundri, found people there are starving to death. I have read the news of further displacement from Equatoria to Uganda and DR Congo with dismay. Every time I meet representatives of the humanitarian community, I am both impressed and disheartened by their information: impressed because of the solidarity demonstrated, but disheartened by the fact it could all have been avoided. We have to act now to change this. It will be the truest affirmation that peace has come.
While in Addis Ababa, I met with the African Union, with IGAD, and representatives of the international community. I also met Dr. Riek Machar, and let me thank Dr. Machar for being willing to listen and consider the broader fate of the country above individual interests.
Both the Peace and Security Council of the African Union and IGAD are very worried that the August 2015 agreement is in danger, on multiple fronts, as I am. Every representative I spoke with in Addis Ababa expressed his or her concern at the situation here. Everyone spoke to me of their concerns at the much too slow rate of implementation and the implications of delay for national and regional stability, and for the lives of millions of your citizens. People are watching closely. But ultimately, it is your peace, not theirs. Africa will support you, as will the world. But the responsibility for peace and good governance lies first on your shoulders, not on the shoulders of others.
The Peace and Security Council of the African Union and IGAD took several important decisions concerning South Sudan. Since the final communiqué of the Peace and Security Council is not yet published, but is, as I understand, consistent with the position of IGAD, allow me to focus on the latter document. Let me say that I welcome the positive action of both the AU and IGAD to state, in clear language, what ought to be done to address the situation in South Sudan, and how implementation of the Agreement remains paramount.
The IGAD communiqué makes a number of important points:
First, it demonstrates the need for inclusive decision-making, and provides guidance on the inclusion of political parties not aligned with the present government in the transitional institutions. This, I hope, should be the last meeting where the seat in JMEC of those political parties remains vacant.
Second, given the delays, it provides a roadmap for the sequencing of the implementation of the Agreement, with regard to the formation of the transitional government, the introduction of the necessary security arrangements for Juba, how to address the issue of the transitional constitution and how the question of the administrative organisation of the nation – in both the number of states and their boundaries – can be reasonably, sensibly and practically addressed by you, the citizens.
Third, it repeats the region’s commitment to addressing the humanitarian situation and ceasefire violations. I hope that the report of CTSAMM can confirm that any recently reported violations have been investigated and verified, so that we all know what is really going on and who is responsible.
Therefore, given the IGAD communiqué and the current state of the implementation of the Agreement, it is my expectation that this meeting will have three main outcomes:
- To take practical and immediate action to complete the tasks necessary to establish the Transitional Government of National Unity;
- 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;
- To identify, further to previous commitments, any additional steps that can be taken by the Parties to ensure constraints on humanitarian access are removed.
I expect to report again to the AU Peace and Security Council, and to the UN Security Council on the status of implementation of the Agreement within weeks. I hope my next report can be more positive than my last, and that the delays that have plagued the process so far cease.
Tomorrow, I will be travelling to Wau and Aweil. I thank the government for its facilitation of these visits – it is absolutely critical that people across the country be directly included in the peace process, and see for themselves that peace is real, so I am looking forward to addressing as many people as I can in both towns. As I said before I went to Malakal and Bentiu, I hope that I can tell the people of Wau and the people of Aweil that we continue to made progress, both in our meetings and outside of them, that all here are seized with the urgency of situation, and, as I’ve just said, that this peace process is real.
I thank you.
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