Machar meets Museveni in Khartoum over South Sudan peace deal
September 16, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, has met with South Sudanese former vice-president and designated first vice president, Riek Machar, in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, said SPLM-IO media official.
“Yes, the two leaders, Comrade Dr. Riek Machar and President Yoweri Museveni held a meeting on Wednesday at 4pm in the Sudanese capital,” Dak told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday evening.
Although he did not provide details of the high profile engagement between the two, he said it was mainly on the implementation of the recently signed peace agreement to end the war in South Sudan, and particularly on implementation of security arrangements.
He said the meeting was a follow up of a previous meeting two weeks ago in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, between president Museveni and a high level delegation of the opposition faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO), led by deputy chairman, Alfred Ladu Gore.
“You know the peace agreement has provided for withdrawal of all foreign forces from South Sudan within 45 days from the date of the signing. This matter was discussed with the assurance from President Museveni that he will comply and pull out his troops from South Sudan,” he said.
In Khartoum, the Sudanese foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour denied that Machar’s visit was linked to the visit of the Ugandan president, and refused to confirm the meeting between them.
But a Sudanese official told Sudan Tribune under the cover of anonymity that the meeting was organised by President al-Bashir to ease relations and build confidence between Musveni and Machar over the presence of Ugandan troops in South Sudan.
Also, another source close to the file said that it was Museveni who asked Bashir actually to arrange the meeting between him and Machar.
During the meeting, Museveni extended an invitation to Machar to visit Kampala.
South Sudanese SPLM-IO has been accusing Ugandan People’s Defence Force (UPDF) of directly interfering in the internal war in South Sudan, calling on them to withdraw from the country.
Dak also said the two leaders discussed other bilateral issues between the two parties, which he did not disclose, but said were in the interest of full implementation of the peace agreement and strengthened relations between the two countries.
The opposition leader’s spokesman further said Sudanese rebels harboured in South Sudan and fighting alongside president Kiir’s government will also be disarmed and repatriated back to Sudan, in accordance with the provisions of the peace deal.
Machar, he said, also met with president Omer Hassan al Bashir and discussed the importance of full implementation of the peace deal in South Sudan as the two neighbouring nations to the north and south of the young nation are key in the IGAD mediated peace deal.
(ST)