July 7th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s rival politicians from government and opposition sides alike have expressed happiness and hope that the ongoing civil war in the world’s youngest nation would be brought to an end as they sign the long awaited security arrangement deal in Khartoum on Friday.
Mama Angelina Teny who signed the security arrangement on behalf of Machar’s SPLM-IO said the signing of the agreement on the security dossier is a big achievement for the parties saying it has been one of the issues raised by movement since long time ago.
“We think that this is the big achievement because it’s one of the points we as SPLA/M IO were talking about it, and we are always saying we must contain all the forces, but in the end we did compromise. We said because is very important for the peace to prevail in the country we compromised and we said let us create and build a national army,” Teny told the gathering during the signing ceremony.
For his part, government mouthpiece, the Minister of Information of the government, Michael Makuei Lueth said the agreement marks the beginning of the end of the ongoing civil war and mark the beginning of a peace deal in South Sudan.
“This agreement marks the beginning of the end. It marks the beginning of real peace in South Sudan and with this, I call upon all the people and all the opposition groups to respect and abide by the permanent ceasefire and with this, I say congratulations to the people of the Republic of South Sudan for this peace which has been achieved,” Makuei said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Lam Akol, the Chairperson of the National Democratic Movement, one of the parties representing the South Sudan Opposition Alliance said the agreement is the first step toward a lasting peace in the country.
“I think it’s a first step towards resolving all the issues regarding security arrangements, as you will remember this actually about four points that were outstanding that resolved today, and they will be edited to the other issues on security matters so that we have the final text that will be in cooperated to the up-coming peace agreement,” Akol said
