Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta will travel to neighboring South Sudan on Tuesday for talks with President Salva Kiir about the continuing conflict in the oil-producing nation, Kiir’s spokesman said.
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Spokesperson of the Party, James Gatdet Dak, described Kiir as a violent dictator who was only interested in maintaining his leadership.
President Kenyatta is now the first head of State to visit Juba following the renewed fighting that broke out in July, which forced former Vice President Riek Machar and his forces to flee the capital.
The President said his visit, besides focusing on the peace process, was also a show of solidarity with the people of South Sudan.
South Sudan’s currency, the pound, has fallen sharply since the government allowed free floating of exchange rate in December, pushing price to increase several times.
In a separate phone interview with Sudan Tribune on Tuesday, the opposition leader’s spokesperson said it will be hard for the country to achieve peace with President Kiir as the head of state.
“The people of South Sudan will continue to suffer because they will only be hearing from him [Kiir] a manipulated, non-committal and violent so-called peace that will instead continue to kill people, loot their property, rape young girls and women and displace populations”.
Mogae said neither Kiir’s government nor Machar want the peace agreement.
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Deng was appointed last month by President Salva Kiir after he controversially dismissed opposition leader Riek Machar from the vice president position. The Kenyan leader also reminded that South Sudanese fought for decades for a peaceful country. He said there “is no fighting in Juba” contrary to perception by the global community. Last Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Deng’s appointment was legal and State Department officials said their goal is to avoid further military action.
