South Sudan’s Machar meets with Kenyan president
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
January 27, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudanese rebel leader and former vice-president Riek Machar has held a meeting with Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, a rebel official said on Tuesday.
Machar and Kenyatta discussed the ongoing political turmoil in South Sudan and options for moving forward with the stalled peace process, which is being mediated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Ethiopia.
The meeting comes as leaders of IGAD member states prepare to hold a meeting on the South Sudan conflict.
Power-sharing arrangements, governance and leadership structure are among the contentious issues that are stalling progress in ongoing peace talks that began early last year after the young nation erupted in conflict in December 2013.
As part of his visit to Nairobi, Machar also plans to meet General Khamis Abdel-Latif, a South Sudanese government official who defected to the opposition movement few days ago.
Abdel-Latif was chief of the state-owned media agency South Sudan Television (SSTV) and has previously served as security advisor in the ministry of interior.
According to Dang, Machar has briefed opposition members and supporters on the recent Arusha road map agreement, which aims to reunify the two rival SPLM factions and is due back in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Tuesday.
Last week, president Salva Kiir and Machar signed an agreement in the Tanzanian city of Arusha as part of efforts to unify the ruling SPLM party that split in to three factions after a political dispute turned violent.
Tanzania’s ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party was mediating the peace process that has running parallel to the IGAD-mediated negotiations aimed at ending the crisis.
East African regional leaders are due to meet in Addis Ababa on Thursday to resume peace talks aimed at securing a lasting political settlement to the more than year-long conflict.
The violence has reignited tribal tensions across the young nation, with thousands killed and around 1.9 million people forced to flee their homes.
Meanwhile. South Sudan’s Lou Nuer community has held a meeting in Addis Ababa where they discussed on the current situation in the country and efforts to promote the unity among Nuers around the world.
The Nuer community has rejected the SPLM reunification pact signed between the rival SPLM factions.
Meeting organiser Koryoum Wang Chiok, who is an official within the rebel chairman’s office, said reunifying the party while president Kiir remains in power is unacceptable.
“If this reunification pact is to be implemented Kiir has first to step down,” he said, echoing the positions of rebel military officials on ground.
The Lou Nuer community in Ethiopia had hoped Machar and Kiir would reach an agreement during the IGAD leaders summit to be held in Addis Ababa.
Both rival leaders have been invited to the meeting where they are expected they face increased pressure to strike a peace deal.
(ST)