“It is my greatest joy to announce to you that the SPLM/SPLA (IO) will ensure that the agreement is fully implemented in spirit and letter and once for all end the suffering of our people,” Machar said in the Christmas message.
“In this regards we call upon our partners to have the same commitment,” he added.
Under regional and international pressure, South Sudan President, Salva Kiir Mayardiit and opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny signed a peace deal in September in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to end the war.
The agreement in Addis Ababa followed months of intense negotiations among delegates of the government and opposition who must, by the time, sign a pact or face international or further regional isolation.
The government in late October conducted a peace celebration ceremony in the capital Juba and was attended by regional leaders as well as the SPLM-IO leader Dr. Machar.
