Kalonzo Musyoka in South Sudan to engage in ongoing peace process

Kenya Special Envoy to South Sudan Kalonzo Musyoka was on Tuesday received by Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of South Sudan Hon. Deng Dau Melik on arrival in Juba.

The Wiper Democratic Movement Leader is expected to hold several meetings in Juba including delivering President Uhuru Kenyatta’s goodwill message to President Salva Kiir.

Kalonzo will at the same time be expected to engage in the ongoing peace process and the unification of the Military.

South Sudan has since 2013 been trapped in a cycle of violence due to rivalries between its President Salva Kiir and his Vice President Riek Machar.

To end that cycle, several agreements were signed. The latest of those agreements is for the creation of a unified army.

The agreement which was signed by the President and his Vice President is supposed to be one of key the provisions of the 2018 peace deal.

Under the terms of the deal signed on April 3, the graduation of the unified forces should have been completed within two months.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) welcomed the agreement signed by the peace parties on the unification of command forces, in a move to form one professional army.

Since achieving its independence from Sudan in 2011, the young nation has moved from crisis to crisis, battling flooding, hunger, interethnic violence and political instability.

In March, the United Nations Security Council voted to extend the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in South Sudan for one more year, calling for political dialogue to prevent the country from returning to civil war.

The United States-sponsored resolution received 13 votes in the council, with China and Russia choosing to abstain. Under the extension, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) will remain in the world’s newest nation until March 15, 2023.

The current level of deployment — with a troop ceiling at 17,000 and police ceiling at 2,101 — shall be maintained.