📄 APA-0001 Partially Implemented

Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS)

Also known as: R-ARCSS

Country

South Sudan

Region

East Africa

Date signed

12 September 2018

Type

Comprehensive Peace Agreement

Mediator(s)

IGAD

A revitalized political settlement intended to end the South Sudan civil war through transitional governance arrangements, security sector reforms, constitutional processes, and power sharing among the principal belligerents.

Conflict Background

The 2013 rupture within the SPLM between President Salva Kiir and former Vice-President Riek Machar triggered a civil war fought substantially along politicised ethnic lines. The 2015 ARCSS collapsed in July 2016 when fighting returned to Juba, prompting IGAD to convene a High-Level Revitalization Forum that produced the R-ARCSS.

Negotiation Context

The war displaced roughly four million people and produced famine conditions in parts of the country. The settlement sits atop unresolved contests over the character of the state, control of oil revenues, and the relationship between national elites and communal armed mobilisation.

Parties

Government of South Sudan (SPLM-IG)
SPLM/A-In Opposition (SPLM/A-IO)
South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA)
Former Detainees (FDs)
Other Political Parties (OPP)

Mediators & Guarantors

Mediators

· IGAD

Guarantors

· African Union
· IGAD member states
· United Nations
· Troika (United States, United Kingdom, Norway)

Key Provisions

Reconstitution of a Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) with Kiir as President and Machar as First Vice-President

Cantonment, unification and retraining of forces into Necessary Unified Forces (NUF)

Permanent constitution-making process ahead of national elections

Wealth-sharing and public financial management reforms, including oil revenue transparency

Hybrid Court for South Sudan, Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing, and reparations authority (Chapter V)

Reversion to and later renegotiation of states and boundaries

Implementation

As of the latest CRCA review (Q1 2026), the agreement survives formally but its power-sharing core is gravely weakened following the March 2025 house arrest of the First Vice-President and renewed SSPDF–White Army clashes in Upper Nile. Elections remain notionally scheduled for December 2026.

Timeline

2018-09-12
Signed in Addis Ababa under IGAD auspices
2020-02-22
R-TGoNU formed; Machar sworn in as First Vice-President
2022-08-04
Parties adopt a Roadmap extending the transition by 24 months
2024-09
Transition extended again; elections deferred to December 2026
2025-03
Machar placed under house arrest; SPLM-IO suspended from key mechanisms; agreement under severe strain

Challenges

Chronic delays in security arrangements — unified forces only partially graduated and largely undeployed
Elite bargaining crowding out Chapter V transitional justice, which remains unimplemented
Escalation in Upper Nile and the 2025 detention of Machar hollowing out the power-sharing core
Fiscal opacity and oil-revenue contestation undermining wealth-sharing provisions
Spillover pressure from the war in Sudan since April 2023

Outcomes

Ended large-scale nationwide hostilities between the principal signatories after 2018
Restored a functioning, if fractious, unity government in 2020
Kept a recognised constitutional and electoral roadmap on the table

Lessons

Power-sharing without parallel security-sector integration reproduces the conditions of relapse
Guarantor leverage decays quickly once a unity government is seated; benchmarked conditionality is needed across the whole transition
Excluding communal armed actors from national settlements displaces rather than ends violence

Related CRCA Resources

References

IGAD (2018). Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. Addis Ababa.
Reports of the UN Secretary-General on South Sudan, S/2019–S/2026 series.
RJMEC quarterly reports on the status of R-ARCSS implementation.