April 26, 2020 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his first deputy Dr. Riek Machar Teny have agreed to unite the fractured SPLM factions – the SPLM-IG led by Kiir and the SPLM-IO led by Machar, a senior government official said on Sunday.
The ruling SPLM party fractured in December 2013 after a national convention at Nyakuron cultural center in the capital Juba turned violence triggering the ongoing seven-year old conflict which has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions of people from their homes.
Speaking to Nyamilepedia on Sunday, a senior member of the SPLM-IG said preparations were underway to reunite the factions after the two principals, Kiir and Machar, agreed to come together in a positive step toward confidence-building between the two men.
“The two principals have agreed to reunite the factions and come together,” He said. “So, as I speak to you, preparations are underway to start the process. If that would not be possible in May, at the end of the coronavirus crisis, the process will be started.”
The factions in 2015 signed the Arusha reunification accord in a bid to bring together the different factions of the group. Because of the continued fighting in the country, the parties could not continue the process.
