International Crisis Group warned that without a sufficiently detailed agreement on power-sharing and security arrangements by the end of the Intergovernmental Authority for Development or IGAD summit, the entire peace process would be in jeopardy.
The Group in a statement on Tuesday predicted that unsatisfactory agreement would likely return the warring parties to intense conflict and deepening regionalization of South Sudan’s war.
It described the upcoming IGAD summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 30 January as a rare window of opportunity for the regional body and its partners to compel the two parties to make compromises necessary for peace.
The group urges IGAD to take a more visible lead in coordinating international actors behind a single, well-defined strategy through the formation of an international contact group.
It added that international community should halt efforts that undermine the IGAD process and that the US and China should continue to work toward harmonizing the regional approach to South Sudan.
The Group calls for the establishment of an international body including IGAD, AU, UN, Troika the European Union, China, Tanzania, South Africa and Egypt to reinforce and support the IGAD lead of the mediation.