Mogae to brief Obama, Putin over South Sudan

Tefo Pheage | Thursday February 4, 2016 15:40

 

Mogae is the chair of the South Sudan’s Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) and has been at the forefront of resolving the country’s conflict. He recently hammered out a fragile peace agreement between warring parties, which thus far seems to have ended the two-year conflict in the country.

In an address in the South Sudan capital of Juba on Tuesday, Mogae said he hoped his report to the African Union Peace and Security Council and UN Security Council will be positive.

“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,” he said.

The United Nations Security Council has 15 members, including the permanent members namely Russia, the US, France, China and the United Kingdom. The Security Council’s primary responsibility is for the maintenance of international peace and security.

Mogae also expressed concern about the sorry state of South Sudan’s economy. “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,” he said.

He continued: “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.”

Meanwhile Mogae’s Commission yesterday unconditionally welcomed a warming of relations between South Sudan’s warring parties as seen at a recent Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Council of Ministers meeting held in Addis Ababa. IGAD is an eight-country trade bloc in Africa comprising governments from the Horn of Africa, the Nile Valley and the African Great Lakes.

Mogae welcomed the willingness of the South Sudanese parties and stakeholders to engage “constructively and pragmatically”, as well as “their stated desire to form the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) at the earliest possible date”.

The formation of a TGoNU is part of the peace deal brokered by Mogae last year.

“The spirit of compromise and dialogue we saw from the South Sudanese parties today is what should continue. It is the best way forward, the best chance the suffering people of South Sudan have to see relief,” Mogae said.

Mogae’s work in the South Sudan conflict has been hailed by many as heroic, with the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, praising him for his efforts to restore peace and stability in Africa’s newest state.