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SSUDAN-UNREST
S.Sudan rivals to keep to deadline for unity government
JUBA, Sept 11, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and
rebel leader Riek Machar on Wednesday vowed to stick to a November deadline
for creating a long-delayed power-sharing government, during a rare meeting
in the capital Juba.
Machar wrapped up a three-day visit to South Sudan — his first in a year
from exile in Khartoum — where he and Kiir tried to salvage a peace
agreement that has stalled on several key fronts.
“The parties agreed to establish the government in time. When I said in
time it means on the 12th of November,” government spokesman Michael Makuei
told journalists after the meeting.
Observers say a political deal between the historical rivals is the only
way to move forward with the 2018 peace deal that has become stuck on key
issues of security, and internal state boundaries.
The two men, whose enmity plunged the country into war in 2013 only two
years after a hard-won independence that has been marked by ethnic brutality
and humanitarian suffering, agreed to hold further meetings soon.
“I told you earlier on that talks between us are going well. And we will
reach a deal soon,” Kiir said after the meeting, exchanging handshakes with
Machar.
Machar is seeking assurances about his personal security before permanently
returning to Juba, which he fled under a hail of gunfire when a previous
peace deal collapsed in July 2016.
He returned in October 2018 for less than a day to celebrate the signing of
the peace deal.
“Juba is home and I have come back to Juba, even if I go away (again) for
some time… we have made an important progress,” in our discussions, Machar
said.
His deputy Henry Odwar told journalists the men had also discussed efforts
to mediate with rebel groups not party to the peace agreement, who have
continued fighting in pockets of the country.
A ceasefire is generally considered to have held — outside of the Central
Equatoria region where these holdouts have been fighting — however the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Wednesday violence
remained pervasive.
The organisation said in a statement that they “continue to treat a large
number of patients with gunshot wounds”, with the number of patients even
increasing since the peace deal.
The fighting in South Sudan has left about 380,000 people dead and forced
more than four million South Sudanese — almost a third of the population —
to flee their homes.
The World Food Programme said Wednesday there was a slight improvement in
food security as a result of the peace deal, however “more than half the
population of South Sudan – some 6.35 million people – do not know where
their next meal will come from.”
BSS/AFP/RY/1930 hrs