December 18th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s main armed opposition group, SPLM-IO, on Tuesday evening issued a press statement on the week-long meeting of President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny.
Below is the full text of the statement:
“ON THE FACE-TO-FACE MEETING OF H.E. DR. RIEK MACHAR TENY-DHURGON AND H.E. PRESIDENT SALVA KIIR MAYARDIT
December 17th, 2019
H.E. Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, Chairman and Commander in Chief, and the South Sudan Designated First Vice President, and H.E. Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Republic of the South Sudan, in presence of one of the guarantors of the Revitalized Agreement, Lt. Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the first Deputy Chairman of the Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council (STSC) held a Face-to-Face meeting today, 17 December 2019 at the Presidential Palace (J1) in Juba.
The meeting discussed the Security Arrangements, funding of the activities of the implementation of the outstanding critical tasks enshrined in the Revitalized Agreement, Number of States and their Boundaries, engaging of the Holdout or Non-Signatories Group to the R-ARCSS, and creating Political Space.
In view of the foregoing, the two principles agreed on;
1. Dispel the rumors of returning to war;
2. Moving forward on the implementation of activities of the Security arrangements. Also to expedite the delivery of the necessary support to various cantonment sites and barracks and the transportation of the Necessary Unified Forces (NUF), National Security, National Police, and other Organized Forces to the Training Centers;
3. Establishing a transparent and accountable Peace Support Fund for the implementation of the activities of the Pre-Transitional and the Transitional Period;
4. Seized to wait for the outcome of the IGAD Initiative aimed to resolve the issue of the Number of the States and their Boundaries, facilitated by H.E. David Mabuza, Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa;
5. Engaging the non-signatories to the R-ARCSS in order to achieve comprehensive and lasting peace in South Sudan;
6. Creating political space to ensure disseminating the Peace Agreement, freedom of movement, expression, speech, assembly and media; and;
7. The formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) depends on the progress of the implementation of the outstanding critical issues in the context of the 100 days of the Pre-Transitional Period.
In conclusion, the SPLM/SPLA (IO) reiterates its full commitment to the implementation of R-ARCSS in letter and spirit, as the sole way to attain peace in South Sudan.
Manawa Peter Gatkuoth
Deputy Chairman, SPLM/SPLA (IO) National Committee for Information and Public Relation.
Juba,17 December 2019.”
