January 7th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s main armed opposition group, SPLM-IO, on Tuesday urged the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit to send its forces to join training centres as part of the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement.
Kiir and opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny in September 2018 signed a revitalized version of a 2015 peace agreement to end the ongoing civil war.
The agreement provided for the formation of a unity government in which Kiir would remain as president and Machar take his previous position as first vice president.
The government has not been formed because the parties have not implemented the provisions of the agreement meant to be implement before the end of the pre-transitional period. These includes the unification of the rival forces and the determination of the number and boundaries of states.
A May and November deadlines have both been missed as the parties agreed to extend the pre-transitional period several times.
In November, ahead of the Nov. 12th deadline, Kiir and Machar met in Uganda and decided to extend the pre-transitional period once again until February so that unimplemented tasks be readied during this period.
As the deadline looms, the activities has not been implemented and the SPLM-IO has said government forces who are already in cantonment sites have not joined training centres across the country.
SPLM-IO deputy chairperson of the group’s national committee for information, Manawa Peter Gatkuoth, urged the government to send its forces to training centres.
“The registration of the government forces are not yet to be (done) and the government forces are not showing up in the training centres,” Gatkuoth told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday.
