Cease Fire – 2005

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Cease Fire – 2005

2005

Intermediate Implementation Intermediate implementation

With the signing of the CPA in January 2005, the ceasefire agreement of December 2004 came into effect. In the agreement, parties agreed to international monitoring and verification of the ceasefire which included the redeployment of armed forces (from respective parties) and the monitoring of some 39,000 military personnel deployed under the joint/integrated units. The ceasefire agreement gave the UN a prominent role to play the verification and monitoring of the ceasefire by calling for the active participation of the United Nations in a number of bodies that were to be created to assist in the implementation of the Agreement. These included a Ceasefire Political Commission, a Ceasefire Joint Military Committee, Area Joint Military Committees and numerous joint military teams to be deployed throughout the area of operations.1

The United Nations Missions in the Sudan (UNMIS) was established on 24 March 2005 and the ceasefire monitoring and verification started as soon as the peacekeepers were deployed on the ground on 28 April 2005.2

The Ceasefire Political Commission, which had a mandate to supervise, monitor and oversee the implementation of the agreement as well as providing a political forum for a dialogue between parties and international community was established on 30 August 2005. Similarly, the government and SPLM started to nominate officers to form the Joint Integrated Units, the military unit of the future Sudanese National Armed Force should South Sudan prefer unity over secession in a referendum.3 It is not clear when other commissions/committees were established that were part of the ceasefire agreement. Nevertheless, there were news reports that the Ceasefire Joint Military Committee as well as Area Joint Military Committees were working.4 Nevertheless, the Ceasefire Joint Military Committee was the only committee/commission that met regularly in 2005.5 A Ceasefire Joint Military Committee (CJMC) answerable to the Ceasefire Political Commission (CPC) was established in 2005 and had its first meeting at the newly established Joint Monitoring and Coordination Office (JMCO) at the UN Compound in Juba on 8 May 2005.6 Formation of the Area Joint Military Committee (AJMC) was delayed until September. The first AJMC was held in the Nuba Mountains Area on 20 September 2005.7 The formation of the Joint Military Teams (JMTs), the lowest operating units of the Ceasefire Military Mechanism, was delayed. Also, due to the delay in the Joint Defense Board (JDB) the Joint Integrated Units were not formed in 2005.8 The Ceasefire Political Commission was established on 27 August 2005 by presidential decree and its membership announced on 1 November 2005.9

The ceasefire provision of the accord requires both sides to incorporate and reintegrate other armed groups. In this connection, the president of the government of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir and leaders of other armed groups were negotiating on their participation in southern state governments.10 The ceasefire agreement requires both sides to expedite the process of incorporation and reintegration of armed groups allied to either side. The process continued in 2005.

Both parties have imposed restrictions on UNMO movement in Abyei in 2005.11 This was the violation of the ceasefire agreement even though no hostility was reported between the Sudan Armed Force (SPF) and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).

  1. “Report of the Secretary General on the Sudan,” United Nations (S/2005/57), January 31, 2005.
  2. “UNMIS Background,” UNMIS, accessed on January 9, 2012, http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/unmis/background.shtml.
  3. “Report of the Secretary General on the Sudan,” United Nations (S/2005/579), September 12, 2005.
  4. “Only Political Settlement Can Resolve Darfur Conflict, Secretary-General Tells Constitutional Review Commission in Sudan,” U. S. Fed News, May 31, 2005; “UN: Security Council extends UN mission in Sudan until 24 March 2006, unanimously adopting resolution 1627 (2005),” M2 Presswire, September 23, 2005.
  5. “Report of the Secretary General on the Sudan,” United Nations (S/2006/160), March 14, 2006.
  6. “The CPA Monitor-Monthly report on the Implementation of the CPA,” UNMIS, March 2006.
  7. Ibid.
  8. Ibid.
  9. “The CPA Monitor-Monthly report on the Implementation of the CPA,” UNMIS, February 2009.
  10. “U.N. Secretary General’s Report on the Sudan,” United Nations (S/2005/82), December 21, 2005.
  11. “The CPA Monitor-Monthly report on the Implementation of the CPA, 2009.”