IGAD’s Maalim praises progress in South Sudan peace process

July 12, 2018 (JUBA) – The IGAD Executive Secretary Mahboub Maalim hailed the progress achieved by the South Sudanese warring parties in Khartoum and Entebbe and expressed hope that a final agreement would be signed in Nairobi soon.

“I am happy to report that the South Sudan Peace Process has registered tremendous progress in Khartoum and Kampala. We are looking forward to finalizing the agreements in Nairobi,” he said.

Sources in Khartoum close to the talks say the mediation is pressing the parties to accept the Entebbe Proposal which increases the government to 45 ministers, 12 for the SPLM-IO and 3 for the other opposition groups.

Also, it creates a new vice-president position for Taban Deng Gai who is currently the first Vice-president following his split from Machar.

Maalim further praised the normalizing of relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

“I take this opportunity to request the chairman of IGAD, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Dr. Ahmed Abiy, to maintain the same momentum in addressing all the outstanding issues in our region, particularly that of Eritrea and Djibouti,” he said.

(ST)