Museveni, Ruto Skip IGAD Leaders’ Meeting on South Sudan Crisis

Kenya's Ruto and President Yoweri Museveni after a brief meeting at the State House in Entebbe recently (chimpreports)

Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni, Kenyan counterpart William Ruto and the Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed Ali Abiy skipped the Wednesday’s virtual 43rd Extraordinary Assembly of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Heads of State and Government.

The Summit chaired by Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, President of Djibouti and Chairperson of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government, was convened to address the serious security situation in the Republic of South Sudan.

According to a communique released on Wednesday evening, the only other president who attended the meeting was Dr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of Somalia.
Museveni, Ruto and Abiy were instead represented in the virtual meeting.

Dr. Gideon Timothewos, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, represented Dr. Abiy; Dr. Monica Juma, Kenya’s National Security Advisor, represented Ruto.
Museveni was represented by 3 ministers including Jacob Marksons Oboth, Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs; Henry Oryem Okello, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in charge of International Cooperation and John Mulimba, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in charge of Regional Affairs.

ChimpReports understands that both Museveni and Ruto have individually engaged the warring parties in South Sudan on the deteriorating security situation.
The Wednesday’s virtual Summit asked South Sudan President, Salva Kiir and First Vice-President Dr Riek Machar to embrace dialogue.

“The Summit underscored that dialogue and discussion remain the only means for resolving differences,” said the communique.

Adding: “We reaffirmed that the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) of 2018 as the cornerstone of the peace process in South Sudan.”

The Summit also expressed deep concern at the deteriorating security conditions in South Sudan, marked by resurgent violence, violations of ceasefire commitments, and a marked increase in violent incidents.

“We expressed Alarm at the rising tensions in Juba and elsewhere following the Nasir incident and the arrest of senior SPLM/A-IO military and Government officials,” added the communique.

IGAD is taking the lead as the guarantor of the fragile 2018 peace agreement that, for the second time, put in place the government of national unity.

The first peace agreement guaranteed by IGAD was in 2015, after nearly two years of a fierce civil war that pitted Kiir against Machar in December 2013.

The 2015 agreement and subsequent government of national unity collapsed after a year when another war broke out in 2016. A second peace accord named Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan was signed in 2018.

Source: https://chimpreports.com/museveni-ruto-skip-igad-leaders-meeting-on-south-sudan-crisis/