February 28th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – The return of South Sudan’s prominent opposition and SPLM-IO leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon to Juba will be linked to the commitment by the government of President Salva Kiir to the successful implementation of the peace agreement, a senior SPLM-IO official told the Nyamilepedia on Thursday from Khartoum.
Early this month, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General, David Shearer who is also the head of the UN mission in South Sudan told a news conference in New York that Machar had told him that he will go to Juba in May even if some pre-transitional activities are not undertaken.
Days later, a senior member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition told the Nyamilepedia that Machar really meant to go to Juba as he told Shearer citing Machar’s “unwavering” commitment to the revitalized peace agreement he had signed with Kiir four months ago.
However, a senior SPLM-IO member who spoke to the Nyamilepedia from the Sudanese capital Khartoum under the cover of anonymity said Machar’s return to Juba will be connected with the success of the agreement on the group.
“Machar’s return to Juba is not a priority its a secondary issue because we will first determine whether the steps which has been taken by the parties has been made or no before thinking about his return to Juba,” he said.
The official revealed that the SPLM-IO will conduct in early April an assessment to see whether the necessary arrangement needed in place before the end of the pre-transitional committee are completed.
“We will sit in April and see what we are up to whether these things are done or not,” he added.
