South Sudan

With only20 days before to the February 22 deadline for the formation of a unity government, security arrangements in South Sudan appear to have gained momentum as former holdouts to the peace process are sending feelers for their inclusion in the government of national unity.

The Trump administration’s top Africa diplomat lashed out at South Sudan’s rulers on Monday, and urged the country’s warring parties to defer agreement on “sticky issues” until after a transitional government is formed.

South Sudan is staring at another failed attempt to form a transitional government on February 22 after all the opposition parties rejected calls for arbitration on the differences over number of states.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Thursday accepted the referral of his dispute with the other peace partners on the number of states and their boundaries to a regional arbitration panel. The announcement was made after a meeting with IGAD and South African envoys by South Africa’s Deputy President David Mabuza.

South Sudan’s government and main rebel groups that had refused to sign a peace deal have inched closer to ending hostilities with a declaration to continue holding dialogue, a symbolic move that could help unify the country.

The U.S. government has imposed sanctions on South Sudan’s First Vice President Taban Deng Gai, accusing him of serious human rights abuses and trying to derail the country’s peace process.

South Sudan’s main coalition of donors are calling on leaders to urgently implement remaining tasks of the peace deal before the February 22, 2020 deadline expires. On Saturday, the United States, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the main countries that have funded peace negotiations in South Sudan, said the country is running out of time to create the transitional unity government.

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir on Thursday pardoned dozens of prisoners including a prominent economist jailed for giving interviews to foreign media, saying it was a goodwill gesture to rejuvenate the country’s stalled peace process.

In South Sudan, since 2004, the United Nations has destroyed over a million explosive devices, including landmines and cluster munitions, scattered across the country from decades of conflict.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar agreed on Tuesday, December 17 to form a unity government by a February deadline, as they face international censure over faltering peace talks.