Riyaz Patel
Deputy President David Mabuza is in Juba, South Sudan as part of efforts to consolidate the peace process there.
Mabuza, the President’s Special Envoy to South Sudan, together with signatories and stakeholders of the Revitalised Agreement, are pushing to secure “lasting peace, development and stability for the people of South Sudan,” a statement from the presidency said.
Last week, the Deputy President held bilateral consultations with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of The Republic of Uganda and President Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan of the Transitional Executive Council of the Republic of Sudan in their capacities as guarantors of the South Sudan peace agreement.
The Revitalised Agreement on South Sudan called for the establishment of the Transitional National Government of National Unity that should have come into effect on 12 November 2019.
“In this regard, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) agreed to extend the Agreement with a further 100 days to deal with various aspects crucial to the final formation of the transitional government,” the Presidency said.
In a visit to South Sudan during Pretoria’s tenure at the helm of the UN Security Council, South Africa’s UN ambassador and Council president for October, Jerry Matthews Matjila, called on the leaders to expedite implementation of the 2018 peace agreement aimed at ending six years of ongoing conflict.
The African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government has established the Ad Hoc Committee on South Sudan.
The so-called ‘C5’ is chaired by South Africa and includes Algeria, Chad, Nigeria and Rwanda and provides political support to the South Sudan peace process.
“The bottom line is this. While the situation for many South Sudanese citizens remains bleak, the last year of peace has kick-started a transformative process that is improving lives,” the UN’s Special Representative and head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), David Shearer told the UNSC in September.
He personally recounted witnessing “former enemies, once committed to killing each other, sitting amicable across the table planning a future together.”
