Civil Society-African Union Dialogue for Transitional Process (CSAUDTP)
Juba, 17th Feb 2026- South Sudan has been undergoing a political transition process since 2015, through the implementation of the signed peace agreement, which was revitalized in 2018. The Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS), also known as the 2018 peace agreement implementation, saw slow implementation and multiple extensions.
The major factor for the slow implementation of the peace agreement was a high deficit in trust and confidence among the leaders of the parties’ signatories to the R-ARCSS. Several attempts were executed for their reconciliation, but all in vain. The latest attempt is the intervention of the African Union Ad Hoc committee (AUC-5) composed of South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Chad, and Rwanda, to complement IGAD in transitioning the situation of South Sudan from violence to peace.
The AUC-5, under the chair of South Africa, decided to undertake a proactive role in South Sudan transitional process. The South African proactiveness was demonstrated by their step of hosting the AUC-5 plus summit on South Sudan alongside the African Union head of states and government summit hold on 11th to 13th February, 2026 in Ethiopia-Addis Ababa. The AUC-5 summit reached agreed upon resolutions that were framed as AUC-5 Roadmap for South Sudan Transitional Process. AUC-5 Roadmap for South Sudan Transitional Process compose of multiple decisions/ resolutions that required genuine implementation for transitioning the situation from violence to peace.
Therefore, the sake of demanding an effective demonstration of political commitment from the South Sudan government as the primary actor and the African Union as the secondary actor, CEPO decided to launch Civil Society-African Union Dialogue for Transitional Process (CSAUDTP). CSAUDTP is aiming at strengthening the role of the civil society in fostering the transitional process in a consultative manner. CSAUDPT is a coalition of civil society that will be engaging the African Union and IGAD regularly for a genuine political transitional process in South Sudan.
CSAUDPT will be a platform that brings civil society, the African Union, IGAD, the government of South Sudan, and political actors to consultative deliberate on the transitional process for meeting the best interests of the citizens, which is peace, security, and political stability. The consultative deliberations, or dialogues, will be conducted on a monthly and quarterly basis to influence the South Sudan and African Union actors for the realization of a genuine political transitional process.
Mr. Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of CEPO says CSAUDPT will be a real driver of generating influence and evidence-based advocacy and lobby engagement with national, regional and international actors for the success of transitional process in South Sudan.
