South Sudan's Kiir, Machar Agree to Form Interim Govt

South Sudan President Salva Kiir and the rebel leader Riek Machar have agreed to form a transitional government by the middle of November, the country’s information minister said on Wednesday.

“The parties discussed minor issues and the principals agreed to establish a transitional government by 12th November,” Michael Makuei Lueth, the information minister, told reporters.

The warring parties, last year had an accord which called for a unity government, but it has been delayed because the government says it does not have enough money to fund disarmament and the integration of all the armed factions.

This week’s meetings between the two leaders were aimed at ironing out outstanding issues, officials said.

Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA-IO) an opposition group said it is fully committed to supporting the implementation of the peace deal.

The group said it is ready to support an attempt to ending the country’s five -year conflict.

Commander of the Anya-Nya division in Aswa cantonment site, along Juba, Nimule road, Okeny George Lam, said opposition fighters are committed to the implementation of the peace agreement.

“We are here to get this country back together, there is nobody who can help us to implement this peace unless we take responsibility. Yes, there is a lot of criticisms and suspicious in IGAD countries and International Community but it is the responsibility of South Sudanese to put it right that we are here to get a country back together – we have learned experience and we cannot go back to the root where we came from. It has been a painful experience as I said before nobody can build your home it is you can make it and make it a better place,” Lam said.

We are here to get this country back together, there is nobody who can help us to implement this peace unless we take a responsibility.

South Sudan split away from Sudan in 2011 after decades of war but plunged into its own conflict at the end of 2013 after Kiir sacked Machar as vice president.

Troops loyal to both men clashed in the capital in the same year and the fight spread to other parts.

Both sides signed a peace deal in September 2018, under pressure from international and regional powers. Machar who lives in Khartoum has since returned to Juba just once, in October that year, to celebrate the peace deal.

A key provision of the peace deal is the integration of former rebels in the army, which has still not occurred.

Header Image Credits: Africanews