November 18th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s main armed opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny has met – in Khartoum – former Director of Centre for Peace Studies at the University of Juba, Dr. Luka Biong Deng.
In a statement, Biong said he met several opposition leaders in the Sudanese capital and discussed with them the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement especially on how another extension could be avoided following the more recent one.
“During my current visit to Khartoum, I met Dr. Riek Machar, Dr. Lam Akol, Gen Oyai and Dr. Cirino,” he said in a brief statement on his Facebook page.
“As Dr. Riek and Dr. Lam suggested [the] extension of the pre-interim period to resolve the outstanding issues, I shared with Dr. Riek the concept of Problem-Driven and Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) as an effective way of addressing [a] complex problem like that of South Sudan,” he added.
The academic said he “suggested to Dr. Riek [that] rather than approaching the complex crisis in South Sudan with solution-driven approach of asking for extension, it would have been [an] ideal to address the crisis in South Sudan through problem-driven approach that identifies problem as basis for addressing such a complex problem.”
“Now this solution-driven approach has been accepted to extend the pre-interim period for 100 days with no specific benchmarks and conditions. With lack of problem-driven process and coupled with lack of political will, 50 days will pass and even 100 days without addressing the core conflict issues in the peace agreement and the pre-interim [period] may be extended again for another six months. This will lead to a “BIG STUCK” and vicious circle as diagnosed by Harvard Prof Matt.”
President Kiir and Machar met last week in Entebbe and decided to extend the pre-transitional period for a period of 100 days.
There were several extensions in the past. The parties were required by the agreement to form a unity government in May but because conditions set forth for that action were not met, the parties had to extend for November 12th which ended up with the latest extension.
