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Saturday, June 30, the day before the arrival of heads of state for the 31st summit of the African Union (AU), part of the day was devoted to the situation in South Sudan. AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat did not mince his words at an in camera Security Council. Sign that despite an agreement signed between the two camps, leaders of the continent are careful not to give in to triumphalism.
South Sudan was, even before the signing of the cease-fire agreement, one of the essential subjects of this 31st African Union (AU) summit in Nouakchott. This crisis, which has been shaking the continent for several years is closely followed by the AU. The organization was not far off when the agreement between the two protagonists President Salva Kiir and his opponent Riek Machar was signed in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, June 27. [19659003] The cease-fire was hailed in Addis Ababa, the headquarters of the Pan-African organization. Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president and current president of the AU, acknowledged at the opening of the Nouakchott summit Sunday morning, July 1, " an encouraging step in the South Sudanese peace process ". An optimism of facade that contrasts with the remarks made in the corridors of the AU, and especially with the words used a few hours earlier by Moussa Faki Mahamat. After the rejoicings the warnings were finally quickly arrived.
Threat of Sanctions
The Chair of the AU Commission, informed of possible violations of the cease-fire that came all just to come into force, raised the tone at the Security Council in camera. He stressed the gravity of the situation, whether from a humanitarian or security point of view. Recalling also that the previous agreements had never been respected : " The agreement signed in December was violated, in February the process of rehabilitation was violated ". South Sudan then mobilized all the attention of the Security Council, which had yet to address other difficult issues, such as the situation in Anglophone Cameroon and the DRC.
In a few minutes, the threat has been brandished: the African Union stands ready to take strong measures against those who endanger peace in the country. A statement that is aimed outright opponent Riek Machar, but also President Salva Kiir who is also not present or represented at this meeting in Mauritania. South Sudan's siege remained empty alongside that of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, while the Nigerian Foreign Minister even discussed the idea of deploying an African Union military force to confining the armed groups and " checking that they remain so "
Option on the table for six months
A threat of sanctions that is not new . It has been several months since the option is on the AU table. Precisely since January 2018, at the last summit in Ethiopia and while Salva Kiir was present. " The time has come to impose sanctions on those who obstruct peace " in South Sudan, Moussa Faki Mahamat said at the time.
The same element of language last May. While a series of negotiations were again taking place in Ethiopia, Moussa Faki's right-hand man, his vice-president, Kwei Quartey, had been keen to justify the new pan-African position: " It would be unfair to claim that The AU's decision to take punitive measures against those who kill or contribute to killing people every day is unjustifiable . "
But if South Sudan's international partners have increasingly openly protested their annoyance to its leaders, no action has yet been taken by the Pan-African organization. And this should still be the case at this 31st session of the ordinary badembly. Once again, there should be no concrete announcement of sanctions.
Instead, the organization should mandate Kenya and Sudan to investigate the situation in the country and the possible violation of cease-fire. It would only be after the submission of this report, expected at a future meeting of Igad, an East African organization, that the African Union could put its threats into action.
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