Ma. Gen. Aggrey Owing, Interim Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC). |File Photo|.
Wednesday, 8 October 2025
The Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), Maj. Gen. George Owinow called on the regional and international guarantors to urgently apply their diplomatic influence to resolve the political and security deadlock between South Sudan’s political leaders, to salvage the 2018 revitalised peace agreement from collapse.
Owinow stated this while addressing the 4th extraordinary plenary meeting in Juba on Tuesday, 7 October 2025.
In his address, Owinow said that despite the commendable progress that had been made since the signing of the revitalised peace agreement in 2018, the country is once again at a pivotal moment.
Looking at the security situation, Amb. Owinow reported that what started as political and security tensions culminated in fatal clashes, including the 7th March incident in Nasir County, Upper Nile State, that claimed the life of a senior SSPDF General and an UNMISS helicopter crew member, among other fatalities.
This was followed by the arrest and subsequent arraignment in court of senior members of the SPLM/A-IO leadership accused of involvement in the incident, Owinow added.
He told the meeting that at the time, “RJMEC urged the regional and international guarantors to urgently apply their diplomatic influence to resolve the political and security deadlock between the SPLM/A-IO and ITGoNU,” he said, reiterating RJMEC’s call for an immediate ceasefire, dialogue, release of detainees and return to focus on the implementation of the R-ARCSS.
“This call was widely supported by national, regional and international peace actors,” he noted.
In his address to the Extraordinary Meeting, Amb. Owinow said, “there is no doubt, therefore, that the R-ARCSS is facing its greatest challenge since its signing. If the current challenges are not urgently addressed, there is a high risk of reversal of the gains already made and may lead to a collapse of the Agreement altogether.”
He said that systematic violations of the peace agreement called into serious question the commitment of the Parties to the agreement in letter and spirit and consequently “undermined trust and confidence in the peace process.”
In RJMEC’s analysis, he said, this is attributable to several factors, including, among others, mistrust between the Parties to the R-ARCSS and lack of collegiality and genuine consultations by Parties to the R-ARCSS resulting in unilateral decisions that further erode trust.
Emphasising the importance of dialogue among the Parties, Amb. Gen. Owinow concluded the meeting, stating that, “In light of the aforementioned, I would like to urge the RTGoNU to re-activate and re-energize the functionality of all the Agreement institutions and mechanisms, especially the Joint Defense Board and all other Security Mechanisms, fast-track the Constitution-making and Electoral process by availing adequate funding to all the institutions to enable timely implementation of their respective mandates.”
