June 23rd 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – The release of the prominent South Sudan Opposition and SPLM-IO leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon who is currently in Addis Ababa has been complicated by the stance of the regional leaders that seems to be undecided over his release despite a decision last May by a IGAD meeting in Addis Ababa that gave green light for Machar’s final release and his full participation in the South Sudan peace process.
Manawa Peter Gatkuoth was quoted by the Radio Tamazuj on Friday that the Ethiopian Premier who invited Machar and South Sudan’s incumbent for a face-to-face talks that ended in jeopardy on Wednesday want the South Sudan leader to go back into exile in South Africa as saying he was invited to attend the meeting with Kiir “only”.
“Ethiopia’s state minister for foreign affairs had invited Dr. Riek and informed him that the HLRF has ended, but the talks will continue. They said Dr. Machar was invited to attend the face-to-face meeting with Kiir only. Machar has been asked to go back to South Africa,” Manawa Peter Gatkuoth, deputy head of the SPLM-IO National Committee for Information and Public Relations told Radio Tamazuj on Friday.
For his part, the SPLM-IO Director of Information and Public relations Pouk Both Baluang confirmed to the Nyamilepedia the new development but said the movement is still to be informed by the Ethiopian authorities about the date of Machar’s departure.
“yes that is true (that Machar will departs back to South Africa). We are yet to get the confirmation from the Ethiopian Authorities regarding the time of his (Dr. Machar) departure to South Africa,” he told the Nyamilepedia on Saturday.
The latest position by the Ethiopia Premeir is similar to a position by the South Sudanese government which wanted Machar go back to exile saying the government doesn’t want to repeat events similar to that of July 2016 in which guards belonging to Kiir and Machar clashed at a presidential palace in the national capital Juba.
