S. Sudan’s Kiir urges Sudan’s opposition groups to embrace peace
September 4, 2019 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has urged the various opposition liberation movements in Sudan to unite for the sake peace the country’s new transitional government.
The presidential advisor on security affairs, Tut Kew Gatluak said Kiir engaged all the leaders of the Sudanese Liberation Movements in the effort to resolves conflict in the Sudan through peaceful means.
“President Kiir invited them to Juba to sit together and discuss after they agreed to unite in order to bring peace in Sudan and also to engage the Sudanese government on peaceful settlement of their grievances,” he told reporters in the capital, Juba on Wednesday.
Gatluak, also the presidential envoy to Sudan peace mediation, said the South Sudan leader urged opposition groups to seek peaceful settlement of their outstanding differences with the government.
The presidential advisor said Kiir invited the various opposition groups, under the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) to come to Juba to unify the common vision to negotiate with the Transitional Sovereign Government in Sudan for a comprehensive peace in the country.
The oppositions group, Gatluak further said, assured the president on their readiness to implement the outcome of the meeting in Juba.
The leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-North (SPLM/A-N), Malik Agar, on his part, said unity among the various rebel groups is crucial to securing comprehensive peace in Sudan.
“When we don’t unite, we cannot achieve peace in Sudan. The first thing is to unite and then we can discuss our problems with government,” he said.
Last month, Sudan’s ruling generals and protest leaders signed a constitutional declaration, paving the way for a transition to civilian rule after over seven months of demonstrations and violence.
Under the agreement, signed in the capital Khartoum, a joint civilian-military ruling body will oversee the formation of a civilian government and parliament to govern for a three-year transition period.
The declaration was the result of fraught negotiations between the leaders of mass protests, which erupted in December against the three-decade rule of al-Bashir and the generals who ousted him in April.
(ST)