Kiir, Machar to continue with talks after festive season
December 23, 2019 (JUBA) – South Sudanese Presidential adviser on security affairs, Tut Kew Gatluak, announced on Monday that President Salva Kiir and the leader of the SPLM-IO, Riek Machar would resume discussion on peace implementation after the Christmas holidays.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Gatluak said the participants discussed the implementation of the issue in South Sudan, and arrangements for resuming negotiations after the Christmas holidays.
According to the presidential adviser, the two rival leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to ensure that lasting peace is achieved in the war-torn South Sudan.
On December 17, Kiir announced that he had reached an agreement with Machar, according to which a transitional government would be formed before the pre-agreed 100-day deadline expires, regardless of the outstanding issues.
President Kiir and the country’s main opposition leader has in November agreed to delay key benchmarks in the revitalized peace agreement by additional 100 days.
The delay in forming a transitional national unity government on November 12, 2019 came after Machar’s group raised concerns that the country’s security arrangements are still incomplete.
South Sudan descended into civil war in mid-December 2013 when President Kiir accused his former deputy Machar of plotting a coup, allegations the latter denied.
South Sudan, which separated from Sudan through a referendum in 2011, has been suffering from a civil war since late 2013, which has since taken a tribal dimension.
In September last year, the country’s rival factions signed a revitalized peace deal to end the civil war that killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.
(ST)