June 22nd 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – The face-to-face meeting held on Wednesday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa between South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardiit and prominent South Sudan opposition and SPLM-IO leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon will continue on Monday in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, officials told the Nyamilepedia from Addis Ababa on Friday.
The official said the meeting will focus on confidence building between the two countries and will also address, as the Addis Ababa meeting, the experience of the 2016 incident.
“The two leaders will meet on 25 June 2018 which is Monday in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to build confidence and address the experience of the J1 incident which took place in 2016,” the official said on Friday.
The Sudanese government sought in the past to hold the face-to-face meeting between Kiir and Machar both of whom are rivals for the South Sudan presidency.
Another official said the two leaders will also meet on the sideline of the African Union summit due to take place in July 2018 in the Muritanian capital Nouakchot to discuss peaceful settlement of the South Sudan’s deadliest five-year conflict.
“President Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar will meet again in July at the sideline of the African Union summit in Nouakchott in Muritania to discuss ways to bring the conflict to an end,” the official told the Nyamilepedia
Ethiopian prime minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed, last week invited Machar and Kiir for a face-to-face meeting after the former was released from a South African house arrest where he has been kept since 2016.
Machar arrived in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, from South Africa on Wednesday and Kiir followed him from Juba on Wednesday afternoon.
South Sudan descended into civil war in December 2013 after forces loyal to the president and his then Northern Bhar Al-Ghazal governor turned rebel leader Paul Malong Awan went door-to-door killing thousands of Nuer civilians in the nation’s capital Juba.
The killings sparked anger among Nuer generals serving in the South Sudan army leading to a civil war.
According to the United Nations reports, tens of thousands have been killed and over 4 four millions citizens have been displaced to refugees camps and IDPS centers, making South Sudan conflict the worst of its kind in African continents and second to the Syrians’ war.
The ongoing meetings between Machar and Kiir could soften positions of the main warring parties, however, how soon the conflict could end remains in questions.
