SPLM-N leader urges Kiir to guide Sudan’s peace implementation process
September 2, 2022 (JUBA) –The leader of a Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N)’s faction, Malik Agar has appealed to South Sudan President Salva Kiir to continue guiding the implementation of the Juba Peace Agreement signed in 2020.
Agar, who visited the South Sudanese capital, Juba on Thursday, described the Juba Peace Agreement as the framework for initiating reforms and democratisation in Sudan.
“We came to Juba for two important things. The first important thing is to come and share the happiness and joy with the people of this country South Sudan and their leaders, top of whom is their president Salva Kiir Mayardit and the First Vice President, Dr Riek Machar on the successful negotiation and consensus they reach to extend the lifespan of the transitional period to allow them to implement critical benchmarks in the peace agreement. The other is to congratulate them on the graduation of the necessary unified force. And finally, to ask the leadership here to continue to support and guide the implementation of the Juba peace agreement,” he told Sudan Tribune on Thursday.
He added, “This agreement represents hope for lasting peace in Sudan. It is a framework for future democratic reforms”.
Agar, a member of the Sovereign Council of Sudan, was one of the key leaders in Sudan who sided with the Sudanese military leaders at the height of the mass protest against the military takeover following the resignation of ex-Prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok.
The SPLM-N leader was accompanied to the meeting by Blue Nile State governor, Ahmed Al-Omda Bade. South Sudan’s presidential advisor on security, Tut Gatluak Manime and the Executive Director in the president’s office, James Deng Wal attended the meeting.
Manime, separately told Sudan Tribune that matters discussed centered on the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement as well as Sudan’s peace agreement.
For his part, Governor Bade congratulated Kiir for the positive steps made in the implementation of the peace agreement, citing graduating the necessary unified forces.
The 2018 peace deal requires the parties to train and graduate a unified force of 83,000 personnel to take charge of security during South Sudan’s transitional period.
(ST)