Machar says will return to Juba to take up South Sudan’s FVP position
Article
Comments (4)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
facebookmyspacetwitterbuzzyahoo
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
February 13, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudan’s armed opposition
leader, Riek Machar, said Saturday he will return to the national
capital, Juba, to take up the post as First Vice President. Machar is
currently based in Pagak, a South Sudan’s border town near Ethiopia,
which has served as his headquarters.
JPEG - 27.7 kb
South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar addresses a press conference in
his private residence in Addis Ababa, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016. (Photo
AP/Mulugete Ayehe)
Machar was speaking at a news conference he conducted in his private
residence in Addis Ababa, just one day after President Salva Kiir
reappointed him to his former post in a surprise decree, which he said
did not follow the sequence of the implementation of the peace deal
the rival parties signed in August 2015 to end 21 months of civil war.
The rebel leader said he has accepted his appointment and will return
to the capital, Juba, once the required security arrangements are in
place.
“We as a movement have welcomed the issuance of the decree that
appointed me as the first vice president of the Republic of South
Sudan,” Machar told journalists in the Ethiopian capital, hours after
his return from Cairo, Egypt, where he held bilateral talks with the
Egyptian President el-Sisi.
Machar did not set an exact date for his arrival in Juba after two
years but said his return depended on Juba’s commitment to allow the
demilitarization of the capital and transfer of 2,910 opposition
forces to Juba to guarantee security for his safe homecoming.
“In this preparation we have difficulties. The government has not
committed to transfer our troops," he said.
"The international community has committed to a small portion of 400.
We are still asking others to help transport these troops in the
shortest possible time, so that I can be in Juba. If they transport
within three days, I will be in Juba in the next day,” he added.
He underscored the first phase of integrating government and rebel
forces should be completed before his return.
The peace agreement stipulated that Juba shall be demilitarized and a
joint police and military force, totaling 8,000 combined from the two
rival forces shall be deployed before Machar could return to Juba and
form a transitional government of national unity with President Salva
Kiir.
With regard to establishment of 28 states, Machar said the issues of
the number of states will be addressed soon.
Speaking to Sudan Tribune at his residence in Addis Ababa, Machar said
a rush to form transitional government would not mean accepting the
creation of 28 states and should be dealt with.
The two warring factions signed an IGAD mediated peace deal in August
2015 based on an understanding of 10 states. But the government
unilaterally created 28 new states after signing the accord.
But government’s move to expand states from 10 to 28 has become a
setback to speed up the implementation of the peace deal aimed to
ending over two-year long conflict in the world’s youngest nation.
The top opposition leader however said the 28 states will be suspended
from the day the unity government will be formed.
“Once the government is formed, even if it were formed tomorrow, the
28 states will be suspended. And within one month, we should negotiate
and come up with a number of states that are agreed. If we fail, we
revert to the 10 in the peace agreement,” Machar said.
Machar said the expansion of the 28 states violates the spirit of the
peace agreement; the recent amendment of the constitution and the
implementation to a number of security arrangements.
He called on the government and the international community to play
their role to transport his nearly 3,000 troops to Juba so that he
returns to the capital to take oath of office as first vice president.
However, observers say there seems to be delaying tactics on the part
of the government to demilitarize Juba and to assist in speeding up
the transportation of Machar’s forces to the capital, preferring only
400 bodyguards.
Opposition officials said such a move casts doubts about the
intentions of the government in the implementation of the peace
agreement.
(ST)
Comments on the Sudan Tribune website must abide by the following
rules. Contravention of these rules will lead to the user losing their
Sudan Tribune account with immediate effect.
- No inciting violence
- No inappropriate or offensive language
- No racism, tribalism or sectarianism
- No inappropriate or derogatory remarks
- No deviation from the topic of the article
- No advertising, spamming or links
- No incomprehensible comments
Due to the unprecedented amount of racist and offensive language on
the site, Sudan Tribune tries to vet all comments on the site.
There is now also a limit of 400 words per comment. If you want to
express yourself in more detail than this allows, please e-mail your
comment as an article to [email protected]
Kind regards,
The Sudan Tribune editorial team.
15 February 06:14, by Mi diit
Kiir, Malong and the tribal Jieng (Dinka) Council of Elders (JCE)
plan to arrest Dr. Riek if he returns to Juba with a small number of
force which cannot defend him from the current thousands of government
forces in and around Juba.
Malong says this will be a final war to end Machar’s ambition to
lead the country.
IGAD should watch out about this evil plan and transport the 3,000
SPLA-IO forces.
repondre message
15 February 06:47, by Akuma
Mi diit,
Your dissident leader always fear to encounter all the mess he
created. He should come to Juba whether with forces or without forces.
This time, no more joke for him to cause commotions and run away like
2013. So let him shown up in Juba for formation of TGNU period.
repondre message
15 February 06:50, by Akol Liai Mager
Mitot, don’t twist things to suit your desire please. There is
Peace agreement signed by both sides including the mediator which
means to stop violence, relief minds from fear and restoration of law
and order. Those you have mentioned would have arrested Riek Machar
before December 2013 if they wished to. You must relinquish views that
do not support peace and reconciliation so the nation moves on
repondre message
15 February 06:53, by Son of Ngundeng
MI DIIT
We are in full alert of what going to take place in Juba, as
you know we have 100 spies, and we have 40 MI officers within Bilpham
to monitoring the movement, we have 30 national security within
Amaara(National security building in Jebel) we have 5 within JCE we
know what is going, we have 3 ladies within Malong’s house as
bodyguard, nothing will confuse us this time.
Son of Prophet
GHQs.
--
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/southsudankob
View this message at
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/southsudankob/topic-id/message-id
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"South Sudan Info - The Kob" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14oromGoffmKnOMd%3Da_Tyw4RDMsWppfTe8ERuateFf3Ugew%40mail.gmail.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
