Morocco, at the chair of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) for March, stressed on Tuesday in Addis Ababa the need to work in favor of South Sudan’s deserved stability, peace and prosperity.
The Kingdom’s Permanent Representative to the AU and UNECA Mohamed Arrouchi, who chaired a PSC meeting via videoconference on the situation in South Sudan, reaffirmed that support for the people of South Sudan must remain firm.
“The situation in this African country remains fragile despite the progress made. This is why our support for the people of South Sudan must remain firm. We must continue to accompany the South Sudanese authorities in the full implementation of the Revitalized Agreement, and support their efforts to strengthen peace, reconciliation and development”, the Moroccan diplomat insisted.
South Sudan is at a critical turning point where decisions must be taken on the path to peaceful transition and lasting democracy, he emphasized.
The current context of rising tensions is particularly worrying as it threatens the sustainability of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) and could jeopardize the ceasefire agreement in force in the country since 2018, the Ambassador warned.
At a time when observers fear that these tensions could spiral out of control and plunge the country back into a new civil war, the Peace and Security Council must ensure, in concert with other regional players and relevant stakeholders, that all signatories to the Agreement continue to demonstrate responsibility by prioritizing dialogue to resolve their differences, he insisted.
During the PSC’s field mission to Juba in June 2024, “we saw significant progress in the implementation of the Revitalized Agreement (R-ARCSS), particularly in the areas of governance, security and economic recovery. But we also noted shortcomings in preparations for the electoral process and the merger of forces to form a unified national army”, Arrouchi observed.
In this vein, the decision to postpone the election date for a period of two years was aimed at giving South Sudan the opportunity to complete pending tasks to facilitate the organization of elections in December 2026 and complete the transition in February 2027, he added.