Has the countdown begun?

A question that deserves to be raised, especially at this particular time, which witnesses great restlessness on the part of the signatories to the fragile Revitalized Peace Agreement is: has the countdown begun? 

For more than a week, the international and regional actors have been exerting considerable pressure on the parties to the peace agreement in resolving controversial issues, with two issues at stake: Security Arrangements and the issue of division of states based on the policy of divide and rule.

The results of the political maneuver these days do not bode well for real peace on the horizon, especially since the readings of the strategic analysts from the first day of the signing of the Revitalized Peace Agreement were very clear about the fragility of this agreement. From the onset, the ‘peace’ process was designed to address authoritarian ambitions and to share the privileges between the regime and certain countries. In addition, it has made the fragile Revitalized Agreement a platform for distributing the indulgences of forgiveness to those who do not deserve it. It was never meant to, nor did it ever address, any of the root causes of the problem.

It is clear in the light of the escalating political tensions, especially after the recent statement attributed to President Salva Kiir Mayardit that he is ready to form the expected National Unity Government on time – with or without leader of the opposition Dr Riek Machar – indicates the size of the fire under the ashes in the implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement. 

The SPLM-IO response was as shocking as had been expected. The deputy spokesman Manawa Peter Gatkuoth, in a recent statement, confirmed their boycotting of the formation of the Transitional Government on November 12 unless the outstanding issues are resolved.

In the same direction, the Chairman of the National Democratic Movement, Dr Lam Akol Ajawin did not disappoint the SPLM-IO by declaring his rejection of the formation of a national unity government in South Sudan without addressing the outstanding issues in the Revitalized Peace Agreement thus raising a big question whether the South Sudan Oppositions Alliance (SSOA) one of its wings, that is Akol’s wing, of which he is the Secretary-General, will also witness another division because of the Power struggle that has overtaken them?

All the evidence at the moment, do not hide for us, the danger of the next phase especially, the increasing sales of weapons by the regime, and lack of her political will to implement the Revitalized Peace Agreement. And we must then ask whether the countdown to the abyss of (Kiir- Machar) has begun again?

Anyway, the coming days will answer this question in which the National Salvation Front (NAS) has been careful about by its clear support to the people of South Sudan through its national position not to sign the fragile Revitalized Peace Agreement that maintains the status quo of the regime and does not solve any of the root causes of the conflict.