JMEC is “useless”, says Makuei

Makuei made the remarks after a Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) meeting in Khartoum during which the commission concluded that South Sudan’s August 2015 peace deal is at the verge of collapse and demanded immediate intervention.

“I think there is something wrong with JMEC,” Makuei told reporters in Juba on August 2. He says the JMEC must prove itself to be a joint body, otherwise the commission is “useless” and “will not serve the interest of South Sudan and will not help in the implementation of the agreement”.

The Chairman of the JMEC, Festus Mogae, convened a meeting in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on July 31, and endorsed the deployment of an international protection force to guarantee the protection of civilians in the country. The JMEC also recommended that the regional force would secure the return of Riek Machar to Juba, and the resumption of the implementation of the peace agreement.

Lam Akol, the head of the Democratic Change opposition party, resigned from the Transitional Government of National Unity as Agriculture and Food Security Minster, saying South Sudan’s “peace is dead”. 

Makuei says the government will proof to Akol that the peace agreement hasn’t collapsed. “He has been carried away by his ambitions, because Lam Akol has his own ambition of becoming the president of South Sudan. The same with Riek Machar and the two cannot go together,” says Makuei, adding that “the two only agree when they are not in power, but once they are in power, they disagree”.

South Sudan free to leave the regional bloc

Makuei warns that South Sudan will abandon the regional bloc IGAD if it continues to interfere with the internal affairs of the country, like deploying foreign troops. “They must be very carefully with their behaviour, with their contact, with their outlook at other member states like South Sudan,” Makuei says, adding that South Sudan voluntarily decided to apply for the IGAD membership and that it is free to leave the regional bloc.

The peace partners meeting in Khartoum tasked the JMEC to take all necessary measures to ensure the full implementation and adherence by the parties to the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan.

Makuei says there are some countries working on the down fall of South Sudan. “There are certain countries in this world that do not want South Sudan. There are certain countries in this world that have their own interest in South Sudan,” he says.

Fighting raged across Juba for days, until a ceasefire was declared on July 11. The violent clashes claimed hundreds of lives and thousands of people were displaced, humanitarian organisations estimate.

The international community called for African Union backed troops in order to protect civilians and infrastructure, but the government rejected the deployment. The ceasefire is continuously violated in different parts of the country.