Former Botswana President, Festus Mogae, is stepping down as the chair of the peace watch team in South Sudan.
The 79-year-old Mogae announced in a statement that he is satisfied with the process of peace building so far and wanted to leave it in new hands.
His joint monitoring and evaluation committee was formed by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development chaired by Ethiopia, to oversee the implementation of the August 2015 peace deal between Dr Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir.
Mogae is set to step down next month.
The conflict in the world’s youngest country has killed an estimated 50 000 and displaced more than 4 million people since 2013.
Mogae’s Committee was formed following the 2015 peace deal. But that agreement, broke down a year later, leading to renewed violence.
He is credited with brokering a new peace deal in which Kiir is President and Machar is first vice president with four other vice-presidents from new splinter parties.
He says it’s appropriate to allow for a new phase of the transition and he will explain his decision in detail later.
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