[Left-Right] Kalonzo Musyoka, Kenya' Special Envoy, Salva Kiir, President of South Sudan, Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda, Abdulfattah El-Burhan, Leader of Sudan Sovereign Council, Dr. Riek Machar, Leader of the SPLM-IO pose for a photo after the tripatide summit in Entebbe on November 7, 2019. Credit/Twitter @KagutaMuseveni

The regional body, IGAD, has called on Uganda, Sudan and Kenya to urgently operationalize the new mechanisms agreed upon in the Entebbe Tripartite Summit.

It says these mechanisms should consider the mandate and work of existing agreement mechanisms and institutions such as the NPTC, CTSAMVM, and R-JMEC.

Last Friday, the IGAD Council of Minister summoned the parties to Addis Ababa for an extraordinary meeting on the Situation in South Sudan.

According to a statement seen by Eye Radio, the parties who were not represented in the Entebbe met to discuss the communique and reach consensus and a way forward.

The Entebbe meeting between President Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar agreed to extend the pre-interim period up to February 2020.

This means, President Kiir and the other opposition leaders will not form a coalition government tomorrow as earlier envisioned.

Foreign ministers from the region conducted their own consultative meeting in Addis Ababa over the weekend.

In the statement, the Council of Ministers raised concerns over reports that the government and opposition forces are still occupying civilian centers across the country.

IGAD urges the SSPDF and the SPLA-IO forces to immediately vacate all civilian population areas.

Another meeting of all the parties will be convened soon to resolve the issue of the number of states and other issues slowing down the peace process.

According to the communique seen by Eye Radio, the IGAD Special Envoy has been directed to organize a workshop for security mechanism in Juba to agree on a security arrangement roadmap for the 100 days extension.

The Council of Ministers noted that the transitional security arrangements and the number of states remain critical for the formation of the government of national unity.

It called on the government to immediately disburse the balance of the $100 million U to NPTC to enable the completion of the critical pending tasks.

The regional ministers demanded that all the SSPDF and the opposition forces be cantoned in barracks and cantonment sites respectively as agreed in the ceasefire deal.

They urged the government to urgently mobilize the necessary assistance to expeditiously deliver food and other items in Juba to the various cantonment sites and barracks.

The statement directed the Special Envoy to organize a leadership retreat for trust and confidence building among the parties.

Ambassador Ismael Wais has also been told to continue engaging the non-signatories, such as, Thomas Cirillo, and Paul Malong to participate in the peace process.