Parties to meet as period of extended road map kicks off

The parties to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement are set to meet on Tuesday prior to the start of the recently extended road map expected to end within 24 months.

 Martin Elia Lomuro, the Minister for Cabinet Affairs said on Monday that the meeting of the parties is aimed at agreeing on implementation of key pending issues within the extended road map.

South Sudan is expected to hold election in December 2024, but key election laws and the permanent constitution among other have not been enacted.

Lomuro said the High-Level Standing Committee, a body tasked to oversee the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement failed to agree on the agenda as the extended road map takes shape starting Wednesday.

“We have considered confusion in fact misunderstanding in various ways about what will happen on Wednesday,” he told journalists after the meeting of the high-level standing committee in Juba.

In August 2022, the parties agreed to extend the transitional period of the government by two years, a decision that aimed at addressing challenges that impede implementation of the agreement.

Lomuro said the committee discussed critical issues in relation to transition from transitional period to extended transitional period of the R-ARCSS in the roadmap.

The high-level standing committee will hold another meeting scheduled for Tuesday on the road map.

 “This is considered to be very important because we want to make sure the public understand, everybody understand what is what and that message will be clear tomorrow,” Lomuro said.