January 20th 2020 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s main armed opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny, won’t permanently return to Juba until the pre-transitional arrangements necessary for unity government formation are implemented, an opposition spokesman allied to him said on Monday.
The government and opposition groups including the SPLM-IO signed a revitalized version of a 2015 peace agreement last year to end the war.
The agreement provided for Machar’s return to Juba – once again – as first vice president – a title he held prior to the collapse of the peace agreement in July 2016.
However, before that, certain pre-transitional arrangements including the formation of a unified national army and the resolution of the conflict over the number and boundaries of states must be in place first, according to the agreement.
Machar was in Juba last week to discuss those arrangements with president Kiir who have insisted that these tasks be implemented after the unity government formation.
The opposition said they won’t accept a government formed without these outstanding issues being addressed first.
Speaking to Nyamilepedia this afternoon, the SPLM-IO director of information and public relations, Puok Both Baluang, said Machar won’t permanently return to Juba until once the outstanding issues are resolved by the parties and the unity government is formed.
“He will return permanently to South Sudan when the outstanding issues are fully resolved and the Government of National unity is formed,” he said from the capital Juba where Machar is on visit.
