At the initiative of the United Nations, core regional and international partners of the South Sudan peace process met on September 23, 2016, on the margins of the General Debate of the seventy-first session of the United Nations General Assembly, to exchange views on how best to advance the political process and create the required political conditions for the successful implementation of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) mandate. The meeting was hosted by the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Mr. Jan Eliasson, and co-facilitated with H.E. Mr. Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana and the Chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) and H.E. Mr. Alpha Oumar Konaré, former President of the Republic of Mali and the African Union High-Representative on South Sudan.

The meeting was attended by senior representatives from the Governments of the People’s Republic of China, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Republic of Kenya, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of Rwanda, the Republic of Sudan, the Republic of Uganda, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, the African Union Commission, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the European Union, and other United Nations senior officials.

Participants discussed the current challenges associated with the South Sudan peace process. In this respect, they expressed great concern about the current political and security trends and the deteriorating humanitarian and protection environment in the country. They were unanimous in their alarm over the unspeakable toll the current conflict has taken on civilians, with more than 6.1 million people – one half of the South Sudanese population – in need of humanitarian assistance and the continuation of abominable human rights violations, including on ethnic grounds.

Participants unanimously agreed on the imperative of an inclusive political process, involving representatives of the SPLM, the SPLM in Opposition (chosen by the opposition), as well as other armed, unarmed opposition and civil society organizations consistent with the Agreement for the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan. They underlined that only such an inclusive process could provide a credible incentive to end the fighting and bring South Sudan back to a path of peace and stability.

Accordingly, participants encouraged President Mogae and President Konaré to urgently enhance their engagement with the South Sudanese parties to agree on concrete modalities to ensure inclusive representation in the different institutions and political processes at the heart of the South Sudan peace process, namely the Constitutional review process, electoral process, justice, reconciliation and national healing processes, as well as security sector reform and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. They called on all signatories of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan to engage constructively and productively with President Mogae, President Konaré and the United Nations to support the implementation of the Agreement, and highlighted the vital role of the IGAD region in bringing peace and stability to South Sudan.

Participants urged the Transitional Government of National Unity to cooperate fully and without further delay with the deployment of the UNMISS Regional Protection Force (RPF), as a key operational enabler to this process, and agreed that continued impediments to UNMISS freedom of movement are not acceptable and must end. They welcomed the steps taken by the Secretariat to expedite the deployment of the RPF and encouraged it to continue its efforts.

Participants noted the centrality of justice, reconciliation and accountability for the peace process and urged the African Union to move forward with the establishment of the Hybrid Court as agreed to by the parties and the guarantors of the agreement.