June 3rd 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) which mediated South Sudan’s revitalized peace agreement is planning to bring together president Salva Kiir Mayardiit and opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar, a high-level source told the Nyamilepedia on Monday.
Kiir and Machar – both representing the government and SPLM-IO respectively – signed a revitalized version of a 2015 peace accords which aimed at ending a then two-year-old civil war. The agreement was mediated in Khartoum by the IGAD following a face-to-face meeting between Kiir and Machar in May 2018 and was finalized in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on September 12th.
Speaking to the Nyamilepedia on Monday, a senior Ethiopian Foreign Ministry official who do not want to be named said he is aware that plans are under way under the regional bloc, IGAD, to bring together the two arch foes.
“What I have and I can tell you is that the Intergovernmental Authority on Development is in the process of getting President Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar, who is the Chairman of the SPLA/M (IO), together so that they could meet here in Addis Ababa and discuss progress on peace agreement,” the official said.
He said the meeting will focus much on confidence-building between the two rival leaders whose wrangling over the SPLM leadership led South Sudan into a brutal civil war in December 2013 following a disputed convention in the capital Juba.
“The meeting will tackle issue pertaining to trust-building between the two man because now it is very clear that the future of peace in South Sudan is in their hand. If they can’t sideline personal differences, the communities from South Sudan wouldn’t do that,” he said.
“So, the IGAD believes that this is a high time to do that so that it will boast the implementation of the peace agreement so that it is not extended again,” he added.
