{"id":47103,"date":"2026-08-20T16:56:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=47103"},"modified":"2026-08-20T16:56:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:56:31","slug":"eu-diplomat-questions-legality-of-peace-deal-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/eu-diplomat-questions-legality-of-peace-deal-amendment\/","title":{"rendered":"EU diplomat questions legality of peace deal amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Louis Loku<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A European Union diplomat in South Sudan, Lothar Jeschke, has questioned the legality of a recent amendment to the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), saying the required procedure was not followed.<\/p>\n

Jeschke said the amendment, which allows the country\u2019s next elections to be conducted under the Transitional Constitution rather than a permanent constitution, should have gone through the process prescribed by the peace agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue process for changing the peace agreement was not respected,\u201d Jeschke said on Wednesday during a two-day workshop on civic education and public consultation organised by the National Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC) in Juba.<\/p>\n

The workshop is part of the ongoing permanent constitution-making process.<\/p>\n

Jeschke said amendments to the peace agreement require the consent of at least two-thirds of the Council of Ministers and two-thirds of the voting members of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), followed by ratification by the Transitional National Legislature.<\/p>\n

He said the Council of Ministers had given the required approval, but the RJMEC Board was not consulted as required under the peace agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe RJMEC cannot be bypassed. Things need to be done correctly before any change can take effect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jeschke warned that failure to address the issue could create legal uncertainty over the planned elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cOtherwise, we are in a legal limbo, and there will always be doubt hanging over the elections,” he said.<\/p>\n

The diplomat acknowledged that holding elections under the Transitional Constitution could be understandable from a practical perspective, given the limited time available to complete the permanent constitution-making process.<\/p>\n

However, he said the decision was regrettable because the permanent constitution was one of the commitments contained in the 2018 peace agreement aimed at promoting democratic governance and social cohesion.<\/p>\n

Jeschke also welcomed the government\u2019s announcement that outstanding provisions of the peace agreement would be carried forward into post-election arrangements.<\/p>\n

He urged the government and other institutions to continue implementing as many outstanding provisions of the peace agreement as possible during the remaining period of the agreement.<\/p>\n

The EU diplomat described the constitution-making process as an important opportunity for South Sudan to establish a stable democratic system based on the rule of law, human rights, and accountability.<\/p>\n

He said the constitution should serve as a contract between those who govern and the people they govern, giving citizens a framework through which they can demand accountability and claim their rights.<\/p>\n

The two-day civic education and public consultation workshop, which began on Wednesday and concludes on Thursday, is part of efforts to increase public understanding and participation in South Sudan\u2019s permanent constitution-making process.<\/p>\n

Jeschke urged government institutions and other stakeholders to continue supporting the process, saying South Sudanese deserve a constitution that promotes peace, unity, and democratic governance.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease continue to support the process for the people of South Sudan. They deserve it,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Louis Loku A European Union diplomat in South Sudan, Lothar Jeschke, has questioned the legality of a recent amendment to the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), saying the required procedure was not followed. Jeschke said the amendment, which allows the country\u2019s next[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":47104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,80,79,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-national","category-news","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/EU-diplomat-Lothar-Jeschke-addresses-participants-during-a-civic-education-and-public-consultation-workshop-organized-by-the-NCRC-in-Juba-Photo-by-Louis-Loku.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47103"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47105,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47103\/revisions\/47105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}