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South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has added a new impetus to the imminent formation of a transitional government in Juba next month during a visit to Kampala which has shown growing optimism about the idea that the youngest country in the world could finally enjoy lasting peace.
Southern Sudan's neighbors – Sudan, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia – strive for a lasting solution to hostilities in Juba, restore security, reduce refugee burden and boost trade and investments.
President Kiir met with his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, in Entebbe on Thursday, where he discussed the implementation of the revitalized peace pact and its challenges.
President Museveni said in a tweet after the meeting that President Kiir had informed him of the implementation of the South Sudanese peace agreement.
"Despite some challenges, there is progress. I call on all parties to work for peace and stability, "the Ugandan leader tweeted.
Although neighbors urged President Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar to reach political agreement, it also emerged that the international community was urging the parties to achieve the same goal.
President Kiir and Dr. Machar are expected to visit the Vatican next week to meet with Pope Francis, who is campaigning for reconciliation between warring parties in South Sudan.
Pope Francis, who met President Kiir at the Vatican in March and invited him to next week's meeting with Dr. Machar, has kept South Sudan on the agenda for the past four years.
The Catholic Church has pledged to help rebuild the country's diseased education and health sector, as well as support the reconstruction of South Sudan. But he wants peace first.
Pressure is also being exerted by the United Nations for President Kiir and the signatories of the peace agreement of September 2018 to respect their commitments and ensure a lasting peace, even if the troika – British, American and Norwegian – Funded remains skeptical.
The next meeting with the Pope is seen as an additional opportunity to consolidate the revitalized peace agreement.
James Morgan, South Sudan's ambassador to the African Union, said the pope had seen fit to invite other peace partners, whose approval will be essential to the agreement, especially the five vice-presidents. presidents of the proposed national unity government.
James Oryema, Dr. Machar's representative in Kenya, said the pope was using religious leverage to boost political leaders' confidence in implementing the peace agreement.
"This would be the third time that Pope Francis would ask President Kiir to give peace a chance. In 2015, while he was in Uganda, Pope Francis urged President Kiir to implement the peace agreement, but this one collapsed, "said Mr. Oryema.
Contrary to the 2015 peace agreement, when the region left South Sudan alone after the signing of the agreement, the country's neighbors led by the two guarantors, presidents Omar al-Bashir and Museveni Uganda, along with Kenyan Uhuru Kenyatta, are now anxious to find lasting peace under the September 2018 agreement.
"The region embraces peace as opposed to conflict so that we can fully realize the regional political and economic integration envisaged in the African Union Agenda 2063.
"South Sudan hopes that the countries under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development will continue to work together in the interest of our region," Morgan said.
Presidents al-Bashir and Museveni are seen as the two main actors who helped solve the outstanding issues in the peace talks in southern Sudan, even though critics accused them of reaching an agreement that promotes their economic and political interests .
For Kampala, the restoration of peace in Juba would be a boon for traders, who supplied food and manufactured goods to southern Sudan before the outbreak of the civil war in 2013.
South Sudan was Uganda's largest export market until the start of the civil war and many Ugandan traders, mainly grain traders, lost their products or n? have not been paid by the South Sudanese government.
The Ugandan government has proposed to pay traders and send the bill to the Juba administration – in the form of loan. But 13 of the 23 companies, whose regulations were approved by Parliament in April 2018, have still not been paid. Juba insists that affirmations are being verified.
South Sudan is the largest importer of Ugandan products and more than 150,000 Ugandan traders operate across the shared border, generating an estimated $ 900 million in sales annually.
Kenya, which has invested heavily in the banking and real estate sectors in Juba, also wants to create a lasting peace that allows thousands of citizens to work and do business in South Sudan.
Kenya is also the gateway to the South Sudan Sea, whose imports account for one-eighth of Mombasa Port's throughput.
The latest report of the Kenya Ports Authority on goods movement in ports shows that Sudanese imports through the port of Mombasa have increased to 734,132 tons in 2018 compared to 673,752 tons in 2017.
Nairobi hopes that a return to peace will stabilize this growth and increase the volume of containers moving inland along its new normal-gauge railway.
Kenyans who have fled the violence are also looking to return to South Sudan to rebuild their businesses.
The Sudanese President in conflict, Al-Bashir, lobbied for the peace agreement to be implemented to boost his country's economy through a resumption of oil production.
He wants to see southern Sudan resume its oil production capacity of 350,000 barrels a day, compared to 140,000 barrels a day.
Sudan is generating significant foreign exchange earnings by transporting oil from South Sudan through the oil pipeline to export, while Juba continues to pay three billion dollars in Khartoum, offsetting the 75% loss of oil wells during the country's independence in 2011..
Last September, Ugandan professor Mahmood Mamdani made a splash in southern Sudan when he declared that the September peace agreement should only benefit Uganda and the rest of the country. in Sudan.
"South Sudan is becoming an informal protectorate of Sudan and Uganda. By officially recognizing that they are "guarantors", the agreement recognizes their strategic role in determining the future of South Sudan: Ugandan troops are physically present to support President Kiir's faction , and Sudan provides vital support to opposition groups, including those led by Mr. Machar. "Wrote Professor Mamdani in an article published in the New York Times.
But the UN is determined to see the agreement implemented. The head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and Special Representative of the Secretary-General David Shearer has been touring the region for two months to encourage the international community to support and advance the peace process.
On April 4, the UN announced $ 11 million in emergency assistance to help displaced families return home.
The funding of the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund targets 268,000 displaced women, men and children in the interior of the country through conflict. The money will be used for food, housing and other basic necessities.
Skeptics believe, however, that South Sudan still faces many implementation problems. Provisions to train and train a united national army during the eight-month pre-transition period have not yet been implemented.
A recent report by the International Crisis Group suggested delaying the formation of the transitional government after the eight-month period leading up to the transition to tackle issues such as security.
In addition, it was not possible to convince the armed groups that refused to sign the agreement to do so. The lack of strong guarantors and external financiers also remains a challenge.
John Pen, who represented civil society at the Khartoum peace talks, said East Africa Juba is desperately seeking funds after the troika has refused to release funds without the political guarantee of a lasting peace.
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