IGAD intervention on Kiir-Machar dispute meaningful but late – Yakani

JUBA, MARCH 13, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – South Sudan’s prominent activist Edmund Yakani has said that ongoing attempts by IGAD leaders to resolve the dispute between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar over the ministry of defense is meaningful but late.

Yakani who is the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) made the comments hours after Ethiopian Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed visited the country to convene a meeting between Kiir and Machar.

A delegation from neighboring Sudan – the current chair of IGAD – also arrived in the country to engage the two main signatories to the revitalized peace agreement on the defense ministry disagreement.

In an email to Sudans Post, Yakani welcomed the visits as “meaningful”, but then said it should have taken place in a timely manner as South Sudan leaders felt they had been abandoned by the regional and the international communities who mediate the revitalized peace agreement.

“CEPO strongly appreciates the positive and urgent IGAD leadership’s response to our advocacy for quick intervention on the recent political stalemate over the swapping of the interior and defense ministries of defense between SPLM-IG and SPLM-IO,” Yakani said in the email.

“IGAD engagement with South Sudan leaders is meaningful and proactive in restoring trust and confidence among the principals of the party signatories to the R-ARCSS for genuine implementation of the peace accord, but it should have come without delay for the interest of peace,” he added.

The prominent activist further stressed that the regional bloc “should avoid coming late to engage the leaders.

Kiir last week sacked Teny and her interior ministry counterpart Mahmoud Solomon without naming replacement.

The president in a separate decree transferred the defense docket from the SPLM-IO to his party and gave the SPLM-IO his interior portfolio.

The main armed opposition group condemned the changes as violation of the revitalized peace agreement and called on Kiir to reconsider his decision.

A meeting to resolve the issue between Kiir and Machar ended in deadlock last Friday forcing Ethiopian prime minister to travel to the country to meet the two men in an attempt to resolve the dispute so as to keep the peace implementation going.