December 20th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan President, Salva Kiir Mayardiit, has reportedly turned down a regional request that need him meet two opposition figures, SSUF/A leader Gen. Paul Malong Awan and NAS leader Gen. Thomas Cirilo Swaka.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in a ministerial meeting held on November 16th 2018 directed the IGAD special envoy for South Sudan Ismail Wais to engage the non-signatory parties to the revitalized peace deal signed in Addis Ababa by Kiir and opposition leaders.
Early this month, the IGAD special envoy met the chairman and commander in chief of the National Salvation Front (NAS) Gen. Thomas Cirilo Swaka in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and discussed the revitalized peace deal Cirilo did not signed.
On Tuesday, the IGAD Special Envoy also met South Sudan’s former army chief turned rebel leader Gen. Paul Malong Awan and discussed possible support for the revitalized peace deal signed on September 12th in Addis Ababa.
In an effort to try to bridge the gap between President Salva Kiir and the two prominent opposition leaders, IGAD special envoy reportedly wrote to the President a week early that he is proposing a face-to-face meeting between him, Malong and Thomas Cirilo.
A source familiar with the issue told the Nyamilepedia that President Kiir said he will not be able to meet them separately but said he welcomes them if they will decide to join the implementation of the peace agreement signed in September.
“President Kiir made it very clear that he will not meet them, but they are welcomed if they will join the government and other opposition groups [in the peace implementation],” the source told the Nyamilepedia on the condition of anonymity.
President Kiir and opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar signed in September a revitalized version of the 2015 peace deal in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa following months of headed talks in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
Thomas Cirilo who was initially a part of the peace talks withdrew in the last minutes the peace was about to signed accusing the regional mediation of rejecting teh incorporation federalism as the system of governance during the transitional period.
Malong said before that his quest to join the talks was blocked by President Kiir who do not want him to be a part of the peace process.
