November 7th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s main armed opposition leader, Dr. Riek Machar, and Sudan’s leader of Sovereignty Council Abdel Fatah al-Burhan have left – this morning – the Sudanese capital Khartoum for Kampala, Uganda, where he is expected to meet President Salva Kiir, the SPLM-IO has said.
Uganda had early this week invited to Kampala Kiir and Machar for a meeting initially set for Tuesday but later on adjourned to Thursday owing to “administrative issues.”
“The SPLM/SPLA (IO) would like to inform members and the public at large that, H.E. Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, Chairman and Commander in Chief of the people’s movement SPLM/SPLA (IO), and Designated First Vice President accompanied by H.E. 1st Lt. General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, Chairperson of the Sudan’s Sovereign Council, left Khartoum for Kampala this morning at about 7:00 am, on a one-day visit, to attend the 3rd face-to-face meeting with President Salva Kiir in the presence of Revitalized Agreement of the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) guarantors,” a statement signed by SPLM-IO director of Information Puok Both Baluang partly reads.
“The meeting aims at discussing the critical outstanding issues of the R-ARCSS and chart away forward as the extended pre-transitional period draws to a close without much having been achieved,” the statement added.
The Kampala meeting is expected to discuss the outstanding issues that are threatening to fail the revitalized peace agreement signed by the two men more than a year ago.
Kiir wants the government formed by November 12th as agreed by the parties in May. Machar however said the government formation needs to be postponed because outstanding issues such as the establishment of a unified army, police and national security service need to be settled first.
He also wants the parties settle the number and boundaries of states, a controversial issue threatening to flange the country back to the tribal conflict it has been through since 2013.
