Machar meets Russia’s deputy foreign minister over peace implementation

JUBA – South Sudan’s First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny has on Friday met a Russian delegation led by deputy minister of foreign affairs, Mikhail Bogdanov, who is also President Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy for Middle East and Africa, according to a statement by the First Vice President’s office.

“H.E. the First Vice President of the Republic, Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, met with a delegation from the Russian Federation in his official residence on Friday, 14th May, 2021,” the statement seen by Sudans Post reads in part.

The statement added that the visiting top Russian envoy met with Machar to discuss the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement the opposition leader signed with President Salva Kiir Mayardit in Addis Ababa in 2018.

While emphasizing the importance of the implementation of the security arrangements, Machar – according to the statement – Machar also briefed the Russian deputy foreign minister on the status of the revitalized peace agreement and urged the Russian government to support the implementation of the 2018 agreement.

“The delegation led by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mikhail Bogdanov, who also doubles as the Presidential Special Envoy for Middle East and Africa, discussed with the First Vice President the implementation of the peace agreement in South Sudan,” the statement said.

“Dr. Machar briefed the Russian government’s delegation on the progress made so far as well as the challenges still being faced. The First Vice President emphasized on the transitional security arrangements, pointing to the need to graduate the unified forces of the army, the police and the other organized forces,” it added.

“He urged the Russian government to support the peace implementation by at least providing non-lethal items such as food, uniforms, and medicines to the unified forces in the cantonment sites and training centers,” said the statement.