November 16th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – The United Nations has urged the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) which mediated the 2018 peace agreement to release main armed opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny.
Machar has been under a forced detention since 2016 following the collapse of the 2015 peace agreement triggered by a fighting between guards loyal to President Salva Kiir and then First Vice President Machar at the presidency in July 2016.
He was kept in South Africa for almost two year and later on transferred to Khartoum in June 2018 where peace talks were underway leading to the signing of the revitalized peace agreement in Addis Ababa in September that year.
Speaking during a briefing to the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) on Thursday, the head of United Nations Mission to South Sudan (UNMISS) and Special Representative of the Secretary-General David Shearer said the region should release Machar urging the government of South Sudan to issue Machar a passport.
“This ongoing obstacle is surely not difficult to fix by IGAD and the government,” Shearer said of Machar’s house arrest.
“IGAD should lift all restrictions. And the South Sudan Government should issue Dr. Machar with a passport – in the spirit of building trust and confidence.”
