Mistrust, political ambitions and quest for appointments in the mushrooming state institutions are fuelling wrangles in the two leading parties in the Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU).
According to study findings by a five-member panel commissioned by the United Nations Security Council, political outfits aligned to President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Dr Riek Machar have been facing intra-party tumults which now threaten to derail the 2018 peace agreement implementation.
Released on April 15, 2021, the study covers the major political events in the country running into 2020 and their significance in the shaping up the country’s leadership landscape and stability.
It was carried out pursuant to UN Security Council resolution 2521 of May 29, 2020, which sought to have a determination of the country’s implementation of ceasefire deal. It also roped in the resolution 2206 of May 3, 2015.
The 81-page report is a product of research by the security council, which encompassed ‘‘reviewing documentation made available by individuals, commercial entities, confidential sources and the government; and also drawing from previous reports to the Security Council and the Committee, both public and confidential.’’
Storms in parties
It notes the snail-speed process the implementation of key chapters of the peace deal had taken but attributed this to push and pull that is playing out in the SPLM-IG and SPLM-IO.
‘‘The panel’s interviews with political and military leaders revealed that divisions within the political bases of the two primary signatories – SPLM, led by the President, Salva Kiir Mayardit, and SPLM/A-IO, led by the First Vice-President, Riek Machar Teny – have threatened the cohesion of the signatories and their commitments to the Agreement,’’ the report notes in page 10.
The report paints a picture of silent cracks that emerged after members of the two political outfits sunk into frustrations due to the delay.
‘‘…multiple sources within the government and armed groups told the panel that, 2.5 years after the signing of the agreement, its momentum had waned. As a result, many of the same political and military leaders told the panel that they had lost hope in the Agreement,’’ the panel notes.
However, the parties’ leaders do not shoulder all the blames given rampant change of allegiances that it highlights as one of the impeders of the deal. The same behaviour had also been signalled by other stakeholders in the implementation of peace agreement.
It states: ‘‘…they mostly agreed that the slow pace of implementation and the shifting political stances of some of the signatories had made the Agreement unlikely to be implemented.’’
It gives a nostalgic account that in 2020, when President made the reshuffling at the office of the ministry of presidential affairs but had to inject some wisdom to ensure there was no revolt and his support base was properly consolidated.
But that did not prevent silent but unsettling jostling for key positions that threatened to derail the functions of the government.
‘‘Competition within the SPLM and the elite constituencies of Mr. Kiir has increased since the formation of the Government. Multiple confidential sources from SPLM and SSPDF told the Panel that divisions within the President’s camp had formed over the redistribution of government positions,’’ the study notes.
The same pattern of cracks are playing in the SPLM-IO camp especially after Gen. Johnson Olony was snubbed in the appointment of Upper Nile gubernatorial position, the report states.
‘‘Dr Machar retracted his selection of Gen. Johnson Olony as the SPLM/A-IO candidate for governor of Upper Nile, multiple SPLM/A-IO sources interviewed by the panel criticised Mr. Machar for having abandoned the movement’s efforts to advocate governance reforms and for having conceded to the refusal of President Kiir to appoint Gen Olony.’’
‘‘As a result of the discontent within SPLA-IO, multiple splinter groups have formed, some of which had not formally announced their plans as of early March 2021,’’ it reads.
Beside this, the report states the supporters of Dr Machar are unhappy saying they are playing second fiddle in the key decision making in government. The report gives an example of top SPLM-IO official who declined an appointment on account that chapter two of the peace deal had not been implemented.
Last week, the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) issued an assessment on the progress saying the president had scored massively in establishing state governments but there were certain gaps still remaining.
But the UN report reveales that such progress had been achieved through lots of efforts from the stakeholders who put pressure.
On April 15, President Kiir flew to South Africa to reach out to President Cyril Ramaphosa government to help the country marshal enough support to complete the implementation of the agreement ahead of the election.
Defence ministry speaks
But in a recent press address, the Minister for Defence and Veteran Affairs Angelina Teny acknowledged that defections were rampant and detrimental to the deal. She however challenged the logic behind shifting camps while the 2018 peace deal postulates that the unified forces would be subservient to one commander-President Salva Kiir.
‘‘The Commander –in- Chief is one who is President Salva Kiir, and the command is only this one on which we depend on, and now where do you want to run and for what?’’ she emphatically posed.
‘‘Worse thing with defection is that, they [defectors] go and launch attack and displace people and they [are not] respecting some of the provisions in the peace accord.’’
She revealed that majority of defectors are people who have fallen out of favour with the government due to their misdeeds, and that their activities may otherwise be inconsequential to the stability of the country.
‘‘…majority of those who defect have problem, either they are under investigation or they need to be arrested because they have committed an offense,’’ she said.
By the time of going to the press, The City Review had established that Puok Both Baluang, the SPLM-IO spokesman, had travelled outside the country and ewas unavailable for a comment. Government Spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny was also unreachable on phone for comment.
Reported by Sheila Ponnie