The IGAD Special Envoy for South Sudan, Ambassador Ismail Wais, refuted as misleading and irresponsible allegations that appeared in the press release by Col. Lam Paul Gabriel, Deputy Military Spokesperson of the SPLM-IO on 15/01/2018 that IGAD and TROIKA are responsible for violations of CoH in Bieh State.
In the press release seen by CRN today, the Special Envoy asked the party responsible for this press release to withdraw the statement and not to indulge in such act in the future as it is unfounded and diverts the attention of the public from the core issues of attainment of peace and security in South Sudan.
IGAD Special Envoy held a briefing meeting on January 17, 2018 in Juba with the Chairperson of CTSAMM, Major General Ibrahim Abdul Jelill.
Following this meeting, the IGAD Special Envoy recalled the statements issued by the Chairperson of the IGAD Council of Minister, the TROIKA and jointly by the AU and UN all of which pointed to the callous violations of the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities,
Protection of Civilians and Humanitarian Access signed in Addis Ababa on December 21, 2017 at the High Level Revitalization Forum.
The Special Envoy said in all of these statements, the signatories have been called upon to desist from actions that contravene the Agreement.
Ambassador Wais underlined that CTSAMM has been closely monitoring the developments on the ground since the coming into effect of the CoHA and doing its assessment and verification tasks with a view to ascertain and identify those armed groups and military commanders responsible for the violations.
‘Violators shall be identified, held accountable and will face all consequences thereof’, he concluded.