South Sudan president, opposition leader agree to postpone formation of unity gov't

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Xinhua, November 8, 2019
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KAMPALA, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan President Salva Kiir and the country's main opposition leader Riek Machar on Thursday agreed to postpone the formation of a transitional government of national unity by 100 days.

A communique issued here after a meeting held at State House, Entebbe, 40 km south of the capital Kampala, noted that the incomplete critical tasks related to the security arrangements and governance, including the formation of a revitalized transitional government of national unity necessitated the extension.

"The meeting agreed to extend the pre-transitional period for 100 days effective from Nov. 12 and to review progress after 50 days from that date and a report to be submitted to heads of state and parties," said the communique.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and chairman of Sudan's Sovereign Council, Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan, convened the meeting as guarantors to Agreement on Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan.

The meeting was also attended by Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, special envoy of Kenya to South Sudan.

The parties agreed to establish a mechanism from Guarantors and the parties to supervise the implementation of the critical tasks.

"During this period, the four IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) countries represented in the meeting agreed to request IGAD to address the status of Machar," said the communique.

The leaders urged the international community to continue supporting the implementation of revitalized agreement on resolution of the conflict in South Sudan.

The warring parties failed to form the transitional unity government in May and both agreed to a six-month extension before the formation of the much-awaited transitional unity government on Nov. 12.

South Sudan has been suffering from a civil war since December 2013, following a conflict between Kiir and his former vice president Machar, which has left tens of thousands of South Sudanese dead and around 4 million others displaced.

A peace deal signed in 2015 collapsed after the outbreak of renewed violence in July 2016, forcing Machar to flee the capital.

Under the 2018 peace deal, Machar will take up one of the four vice presidency positions in the transitional government. Enditem

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