“South Sudan’s leaders have a chance to correct their grave mistakes and focus on the well-being of those who entrusted them with this role”, said United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
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“With the strong support and involvement and guarantees and determination to help you, I think it is your responsibility and your brother, you said, Riek Machar, and leaders of South Sudan to make your country put on a peaceful path”, Ban said. “Let me assure you that since I signed the agreement, my commitment to its implementation is unwavering and I will prove the doubting Thomases wrong”.
Presidential spokesperson, Ateny Wek Ateny, told reporters on Tuesday that president Kiir, would, through a video link, participate in the meeting in which Machar and Pagan Amum, secretary general of the governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), would attend in person in New York.
Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar in August includes commitments by their sides to a monitored cease-fire and sharing of government positions over a 30-month transitional period scheduled to begin 90 days after the agreement.
The army and armed opposition repeatedly accuse each other of breaking the internationally brokered August 29 ceasefire deal, the eighth such agreement to have been signed since civil war broke out in December 2013. “Unfortunately, while we are busy implementing the agreement, the armed opposition continues to violate the permanent ceasefire”.
But they also promised what the worldwide community, deeply frustrated that the world’s newest country degenerated into devastating civil war just two years after independence, wanted to hear.
Ugandan special forces were deployed to South Sudan in December 2013 at the request of Kiir, who alleged that soldiers loyal to Machar had tried to mount a coup. “And I wish you all the best”, he added to applause from dignitaries in the room before having to leave the meeting early due to scheduling commitments. To mend it, the provisions in the peace agreement related to justice, accountability and reconciliation must be implemented in full, he continued.
Speaking in Arabic, Machar added: “He hit us and then he ran to complain”.
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The announcement happens less than two weeks before all foreign forces can leave South Sudan as required by the IGAD-Plus’s compromise peace agreement. In June, the world body accused South Sudanese troops and allies of sexually abusing women and girls and reportedly burning a few of them alive in their homes. Almost 13,000 United Nations peacekeepers are still sheltering more than 200,000 people at camps throughout South Sudan.
