June 24th, 2018 (Nyamilepedia)Â — South Sudan’s former Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, has touched down in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum a few minutes ago ahead of his face-to-face meeting with President Salva Kiir.
Dr. Machar, the leader of the main armed opposition left Addis Ababa yesterday evening around 11pm for South Africa, however, he had to return as soon as his Visa to enter Khartoum arrives a few hours later.
“The leader of the People’s Movement, Chairman & Commander in Chief of the SPLM/A (IO) His Excellency Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon left for South Africa Yesterday at 11:00PM and arrived in Pretoria at 5:00AM where on spot got an official Visa from Sudan Embassy at 9:00 AM.” Said Brig. Gen. William Gatjiath Deang, the spokesman of SPLA-IO.
“Moreover, the wise Dr. has boarded and took off from Pretoria back to Ethiopia at 11:00AM and he has arrived Bole International Airport on transit to Sudan at 3:00PM to continue the face to face talks between him the Machar and Mr. Salva Kiir Mayardit that may probably takes place tomorrow in the Sudanese national capital Khartoum” Deng continued.
The surprise landing caught many SPLM/SPLA (IO) supporters and sympathizers off-guard, however, according to the military spokesman, the SPLM/A (IO) should celebrate the arrival of their chairman in the Sudanese capital after nearly two years in exile in South Africa.
“All the SPLM/A (IO) both at home, diaspora, Khartoum, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Refugees camps and the POCs in South Sudan are asked to show their happiness again to the world as their right leader has arrived safely back from South Africa.” Said the spokesman.
For the last one week, the armed opposition has celebrated Machar’s release in many parts of South Sudan and also in diaspora, however, that euphoria dwindled as Machar was left to evacuate the IGAD region.
The East African regional bloc has imposed residential restrictions on Machar’s entry and residency in IGAD 8-member states as part of the attempt to isolate the the SPLM/A (IO) chairman.
Machar is expected to meet his rival, Salva Kiir, in Khartoum tomorrow before heading off to Kenya for another face-to-face meeting with Kiir under the auspices of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The two South Sudanese leaders are fighting a political conflict that has turned tribal in the world youngest nation.
While over 300 thousand people are killed in the last almost-5 years, over 4 millions people are displaced and the economy has collapsed.
The two leaders, however, have reached a dead end as president Kiir, whose term in office expired 3 years ago, wants to maintain a tainted status quo and absorb the oppositions without Machar to revitalize his leadership.
On the other hand, Machar and other opposition leaders want to reform the system of governance and reduce the huge government expenditures by creating a small and manageable government that would be ran on federal systems – something Salva Kiir and his advisers, who are mostly his tribesmen, may never agree to.
Their recent face-to-face meeting in Addis Ababa produced very little and their next meetings may generate very similar results as IGAD ‘s pre-judged position to detain or isolate Machar emboldens Kiir’s Juba based government.
