A/HRC/40/CRP.1
2015 ARCSS in its entirety.30 The Transitional National Legislative Assembly ratified the RARCSS on 15 October 2018.31 However, some members of the SSOA, including the NAS
led by Thomas Cirillo Swaka, Pagan A. Oketch, the PDM chaired by Hakim Dario, the NDM
led by Emanuel Aban, and the UDRA of Gatwech K. Thich declined to sign the agreement.32
The R-ARCSS sets out a pre-transitional period of eight months and a transitional
period of 36 months, at the end of which national elections will be held.33 The pre-transitional
period is five months longer than in the ARCSS and has a new National Pre-Transitional
Period Committee to coordinate activities including, importantly, the cantonment of forces,
the implementation of key security provisions and the building of trust. The Revitalised
Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU) will be composed of Salva Kiir as
President, Riek Machar as First Vice President and a further four Vice Presidents divided
between the TGoNU (two nominations), the SSOA (one nomination) and the Former
Detainees (one nomination who shall be a woman), each with their own defined areas of
responsibility.34 It will further comprise a Council of Ministers with 35 ministries and a
Transitional Legislature with 550 members divided between the signatory parties. 35 This
expansion in the number of Vice-Presidents, Ministers and Members of Parliament reflects
the fragmentation that occurred since the last agreement resulting in a larger number of
groups needing to be brought into the agreement as well as the unwillingness of the
Government to retire or redeploy any existing members of the executive or legislature.
The parties agreed to canton their forces within 30 days of the agreement and to build
a unified national army, police, national security service, and other organized forces before
the end of the transitional period and a establish a DDR programme for those ineligible
personnel.36
In light of an inability to resolve one of the most controversial questions during
negotiations, an Independent Boundary Commission (IBC) was to be established to consider
the issue of the number of States, their boundaries and restructuring and adopt a final report
by at least seven of its 15 members within 90 days. 37 The Council of States will be
reconstituted on the basis of the report. If the IBC fails to issue a final report within 90 days,
the issue of the number and boundaries of the States will automatically move to a referendum
to be held before the end of the Pre-Transitional Period. As described below, a second body,
the Technical Boundary Committee (TBC), is also to be established to define and demarcate
the tribal areas of South Sudan as they stood on 1 January 1956, 38 and the tribal areas in
dispute in the country. The TBC will finish its work within 60 days and its report will inform
the work and conclusions of the IBC.39
Beyond the chapters dealing with governance, security and the number of states, the
remaining chapters of the R-ARCSS remain largely unchanged from the 2015 ARCSS
beyond changes to composition and, crucially, timelines for the implementation of the
obligations.40 This includes chapters relating to humanitarian assistance and reconstruction;
resource, economic and financial management; transitional justice; and the parameters of the
creation of the permanent constitution.
One direct consequence of the repeal and supersession of the ARCSS is that the
timelines for implementing the transitional justice mechanisms in Chapter V will now be
delayed. Under the R-ARCSS, legislation to establish the Commission for Truth and
Reconciliation and Healing must be promulgated within three months of the establishment
30
R-ARCSS, Article 8.1.
JMEC, Progress Report No. 3 on the Implementation Status of the R-ARCSS 2018, 5 November 2018.
32 Sudan Tribune, “SSOA holdout groups voice rejection of South Sudan’s Revitalised peace”, 15 September 2018.
33 R-ARCSS, Article 1.1.
34 R-ARCSS, Articles 1.5-1.9.
35 R-ARCSS, Articles 1.10, 1.14.
36 R-ARCSS, Articles 2.2-2.3.
37 R-ARCSS, Article 1.15.
38 The date of Sudan’s Independence and the confirmation of administrative boundaries.
39 R-ARCSS, Article 1.15.
40 For a comprehensive comparison of the 2015 ARCSS and the 2018 R-ARCSS, see Malish John Peter, “A second Chance to
Deliver Peace Through Power Sharing: A Comparative Analysis of South Sudan Peace Agreements”, Institute of Social Policy
and Research, 15 October 2018.
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