Gabriel Changson,co-deputy chair of the National Pre-Transitional Committee, and the interim leader SSOA. Photo by SUMY SADURNI / AFP/Getty

A senior official co-signatory to the Revitalized Peace Agreement has called on the political class to aim for the security and political stabilization of the horn of Africa by bailing out South Sudan from its current woes.

Gabriel Changson, the co-deputy chair of the National Pre-Transitional Committee in which he is representing his group – the South Sudan Opposition Alliance said “a stable South Sudan is a stable region in the horn of Africa, and the world at large.”

He suggested that there is lack of political will among some leaders to see to it that the agreement succeeds. He however did not name names.

A “political will” is somewhat defined as the ‘ghost’ in the machine of politics – the motive force that generates political action. But that is lacking – according to Changson – to truly implement the new peace accord.

Opposition leaders and the incumbent TGoNU led by President Salva Kiir inked the revitalized peace agreement in September last year. Though the deal is holding, many observers including the United Nations recently described it as fragile.

Changson Chang believes him and his colleagues seems to be waiting on the international community to “take them to the drinking point.”

“The region can only support but cannot bail us out, if we don’t have the political will to put our house together. You can take a horse to a water point, but you cannot force it drink,” he joked.

Donors and supporters of the agreement have increasingly expressed doubts over the willingness of the leaders to silence the guns, following renewed fighting in the Equatoria region, particularly in Yei River and Amadi states.

There has also been reports of violations in the former Unity State where a series of fighting erupted recently.

But Mr. Changson still hope the international community can support the peace agreement, if they see the readiness of the South Sudanese elites to put their country first.

“They can support us. [But] They will not impose that political will [on us]. So let’s us cultivate and harness that will to save our country, and to help our people move forward as other nations,” Changson asserted.

Gabriel Changson was speaking at an event hosted by the Japanese ambassador in Juba last night.