JUBA – The leader of South Sudan’s SPLM-IO has said that he is not coming to Juba to stay saying he will return back to Sudanese capital Khartoum where he is being kept by the region.
South Sudan government and SPLM-IO as well as many other opposition groups signed a peace deal in September 2018 to end the ongoing civil war.
The agreement provided for Machar’s return to Juba – once again – as first vice president – a title he held prior to the collapse of the peace agreement in July 2016.
However, before that, certain pre-transitional arrangements including the formation of a unified national army and the resolution of the conflict over the number and boundaries of states must be in place first, according to the agreement.
Machar was in Juba last week to discuss those arrangements with president Kiir who have insisted that these tasks be implemented after the unity government formation.
The opposition said they won’t accept a government formed without these outstanding issues being addressed first.
This afternoon, the SPLM-IO director of information and public relations, Puok Both Baluang, said Machar won’t permanently return to Juba until once the outstanding issues are resolved by the parties and the unity government is formed.
“He will return permanently to South Sudan when the outstanding issues are fully resolved and the Government of National unity is formed,” he said in an interview this afternoon.
