South Sudan government is ready for peace implementation: Kiir
August 3, 2018 (JUBA) – The South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Friday said his government is ready to implement a deal that it has negotiated with the opposition groups stressing that it was not imposed by the IGAD mediation as it was the case in August 2015.
President Salva Kiir discussed with the visiting Sudanese Foreign Minister El Dirdeiry Mohamed Ahmed the implementation of the security arrangements and power-sharing agreements.
Kiir further held a press conference with the big Sudanese media delegation that travelled to Juba with Minister El-Dirdeiry.
In his press conference at the State House, President Kiir declared his full commitment to the agreement initialled on 25 July and will be signed on 5 August.
“The 2015 deal was forced on us, this is why when we signed the agreement I signed with 26 reservations and the agreement collapsed before us. This agreement I am sure will not collapse because the people of South Sudan have agreed to make peace between themselves,” Kiir said.
The revitalization process has been conducted under the direct supervision of the IGAD Council of Minister including the South Sudanese government.
This approach has enabled the South Sudanese government to impact the decision-making and propositions at the level of the mediation which was accused of considering Juba’s positions more than the opposition groups.
This time, also, the mediation held workshops for the parties and came out with proposals to be discussed at the negotiating table. The opposition groups denounced this method and accused the mediation of ignoring its positions in the proposals it drafts.
“This agreement will not collapse and I am sure that it will not collapse because the people of South Sudan have now agreed that they must make peace among themselves,” he further stressed.
Kiir said his government is keen to have a comprehensive agreement with the participation of all the parties as the transitional period will witnesses important activities to achieve political and economic reforms.
He further pledged to settle the remaining outstanding issues with SSOA and SPLM- FDs which contest a referendum on the fate of the 32 states.
“These outstanding issues that are not yet resolved, we shall resolve them as soon as I land in Khartoum,” said Kiir.
However, Kiir said they need some time to finalize the preparation to receive the First Vice President and two vice-presidents and other ministers.
“They need security, they need vehicles, they need houses… five-vice presidents, this is a very big responsibility to manage. I need to get for them their transport, and one person needs a motorcade of maybe five vehicles. Where will I get this?” He said.
In return, he declined to comment on the issue of Abyei area saying they have now to end the inter South Sudanese conflict before to resume talks with Khartoum on the disputed border area.
For the SPLM-N, Kiir repeated his readiness to mediate the conflict in Sudan’s Two Areas but said Khartoum should accept first such initiative.
(ST)