Juba, South Sudan,
May 8, 2021 — Briefing the new Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for South Sudan, Amb. Nicolas Haysom, on Thursday, South Sudan’s First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar strongly emphasized that it is important to graduate unified forces, who are currently stranded in impoverished training centers, even if it means to graduate them without weapons.
The newly appointed Special Representative of the UN Secretary General visited FVP Machar after meeting President Kiir to hear Machar’s perspective and progress made on the implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement and general welfare of the country.
“The newly appointed Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for South Sudan, Nicolas Haysom, today discussed a wide range of issues with the First Vice President of the Republic, H.E. Dr. Riek Machar Teny.” Read part of a statement from the office of the First Vice President,
The First Vice President briefed the UN official at length on the progress made on the implementation of the peace agreement and also on the pending issues that are delaying the graduation and deployment of the necessary unified forces as stipulated in the transitional security arrangements.
“The First Vice President and the new chief of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) discussed the status of the implementation of the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCISS), with emphasis on its challenges.” Machar’s press secretary office continued.
According to Dr. Machar it would be better to graduate the forces even if they don’t have weapons.
In a statement to the media after the meeting, the Special Representative said that he acquainted himself with a lot of issues at hand and his mission was to see how best to help the people of South Sudan in the transition.
Mr. Haysom said that a United Nations Experts Team on elections would be visiting South Sudan in the near future to help prepare the country to holds its first democratic elections since independence on July 9, 2011.
He further reiterated that the two leaders also discussed regional issues, particularly in the Horn of Africa, which could cause instability and have implications on the world’s youngest nation
The new head of UNMISS, who is a South African by nationality, also emphasized on the need for dialogue and national reconciliation among the stakeholders and the people of South Sudan, a model that became successful in his country and also in Rwanda.
