South Sudan says ceasefire monitors lack necessary resources to do their job

January 19, 2018 (JUBA) - South Sudanese government Friday called on the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to enhance the means of the ceasefire monitoring body pointing to its poor performance.

The demand, which expresses for the first time Juba frustration from the activities of the mechanism, is made one month after the signing of the cessation of hostilities agreement the government and the rebels are largely accused of violating.

Also, the SPLM-IO had already accused the Ceasefire and Transitional Arrangement Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM) of not reflecting in its reporting the attacks of the government on their positions across the country.

In statements to the press on Friday, South Sudan cabinet affairs minister Martian Elia Lomuro said they reported 31 attacks on the government positions but the CTSAMM did not investigate.

He further criticised the latest report of the monitoring body saying "it is not consistent with facts"

"We will go and tell IGAD to either empower CTSAMM to work properly or use the Regional Protection Force (RPF) which is doing nothing here after they gave us a lot of headaches," Lomuro said.

He went further to say that the new head of the ceasefire monitoring body admitted that they don’t have resources and manpower to achieve their job.

The South Sudanese parties are expected to meet next February to discuss the implementation of the permanent ceasefire agreement which part of the peace agreement.

The issue of the CTSAMM had already been raised by the SPLM-IO during the meeting of December 2017 on the humanitarian cessation of hostilities.

The South Sudanese minister who is also the head of the government team to the revitalization process said they informed the CTSAMM to not issue any new report until they investigate the reported attacks first with the army forces on the ground.

On 16 January, the monitoring mechanism said 16 people have been killed, including three children by the warring parties since the beginning of the ceasefire on 24 December 2017.

(ST)