Peace monitors said the house arrest of South Sudanese First Vice President Riek Machar has put the implementation of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement in serious jeopardy.
JUBA, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Peace monitors said on Thursday that the house arrest of South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar has put the implementation of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement in serious jeopardy.
The Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) said the arrest breached the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS), calling on the related parties to de-escalate tensions immediately.
"The gains of the past six-and-a-half years since the Revitalized Peace Agreement was signed are too numerous simply to be discarded," the RJMEC said in a statement issued in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
It reminded the parties of the promises made in the preamble of the R-ARCSS, in which they declared recommitment to peace and constitutionalism and not to repeat mistakes of the past.
The statement came after Machar was placed under house arrest on Wednesday night after an armed convoy led by top security officials entered his residence in Juba, and disarmed his bodyguards.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said Machar's arrest, which came in the aftermath of military clashes between his forces and the South Sudan People's Defense Forces (SSPDF) on the outskirts of the capital, signals a severe unraveling of the peace process and a direct threat to millions of lives.
"At the heart of South Sudan's crisis is a failure to protect civilians and uphold the commitments of the Revitalized Peace Agreement," said Yasmin Sooka, chair of the commission.
She noted that the deliberate targeting of opposition leaders and civilians represents a reckless disregard for international law and the country's future.
The commission warned that failure to uphold the protections enshrined in the revitalized peace agreement, including freedom of movement, political participation, and the cessation of hostilities, will lead to a catastrophic return to war.
Violence has intensified in multiple regions, including Upper Nile State, where aerial assaults have displaced over 60,000 people and targeted populated areas following the March 7 attack on a UN peacekeeping helicopter, according to the commission. ■
