In a brief statement to the Nyamilepedia on Monday, a SPLM-IO official said Machar will arrive on Tuesday in the evening and would meet the Ethiopian Prime Minister the same evening ahead of the face-to-face meeting with the South Sudanese President Salva Kiir on June 20th.
“He will come on Tuesday. We were just informed by the Ethiopian government that the Chairman will arrive late tomorrow in the day. He will first meet the Ethiopian leader for a preparatory meeting with the host leader and then will see what will be the way forward,” he said.
He said their group is still yet to be informed by the Ethiopian government whether President Salva Kiir has accepted to meet Machar or not but he said he expect President Salva Kiir to be in Addis Ababa on Wednesday.
“The government is still to inform us whether Kiir has accepted to meet our Chairman or not but I think that President Kiir will be here on Tuesday,” he further said.
For their part, the government said that the president have agreed to attend to Ethiopia to meet the former First Vice-President Dr. Machar to avoid being seen by the region and the international community as an obstacle to peace.
“President Kiir has accepted to travel to Addis on Wednesday to meet Riek Machar because he do not want the region and the international community to see him as a peace spoiler. He has accepted unconditionally to meet his brother Riek for the sack of the peace and the people of South Sudan,” the source said.
Last week, the government said the decision for President Kiir to travel to Addis Ababa would need the cabinet to meet so as to decide because it is not personal saying Kiir is still to accept going to Addis Ababa for a meeting with Machar.
