South Sudan President Salva Kiir re-appointed former rebel leader Riek Machar as first vice president Thursday, a move anticipated by the peace agreement signed last August but long delayed.
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Incumbent vice president, James Wani Igga, was sworn-in today by Kiir to a new position as second vice president, following the appointment last night of Riek Machar to the more senior position of first vice president.
In this file Feburary 1 2015 photo, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir (front L) and South Sudan’s rebel commander Riek Machar exchange documents after signing a ceasefire agreement during the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Summit on the case of South Sudan in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
The civil conflict erupted in December 2013 after Mr Kiir accused Mr Machar of plotting a coup. The deal also requires the formation of a transitional government; demilitarization of the capital, Juba, which has remained under government control with the assistance of Ugandan forces; and requires the government and rebels to share control over the nation’s oil fields, where fighting has been fiercest, according to The New York Times.
But fighting continues, and the conflict now involves multiple militia forces driven by local agendas or revenge, who pay little heed to paper peace deals.
“I am ready to form a transitional government of national unity having taken key steps towards the implementation of the agreement”. A spokesman for Machar said he may be able to take office by the end of February after his supporters position their fighters and police around Juba as part of the agreement.
South Sudan is the world’s youngest country and one of the least developed.
Mr. Kiir, who is from the Dinka ethnic group, and Mr. Machar, a Nuer, have been under intense diplomatic pressure, including the threat of United Nations sanctions, to reach a reconciliation.
According to the report, those violations include extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, extrajudicial arrest and detention, abductions, forced displacement, the use and recruitment of children, beatings, looting and the destruction of livelihoods and homes.
Some observers have expresed concern at the possibility of clashes between bodyguards of Kiir and Machar should the the latter return to Juba, similar to the clashes that sparked the civil war in December 2013.
Machar told VOA that he welcomes the appointment and considers it a good step in the right direction in the implementation of the deal to bring political stability to South Sudan.
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“Unfortunately this has not happened”, Machar said.
