President, opposition agree to extend talks in S.Sudan

JUBA, South Sudan

South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit and opposition leader Riek Machar agreed Thursday to extend the deadline to form a power-sharing government after talks failed to resolve outstanding issues.

The agreement was formed after a face-to-face meeting between Kiir and Machar in Uganda, under the auspices of that country’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and Sudanese President Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan. Kenya's Special Envoy on South Sudan, Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, also attended the meeting.

The tripartite summit in Kampala, Uganda sought to resolve the South Sudan conflict and resulted in several resolutions, among which is extending the pre-transitional period for 100 days effective Nov. 12, with progress reviewed after 50 days, according to a communique obtained by Anadolu Agency.

The parties agreed to establish a mechanism that will also be established for guarantors and parties to supervise the implementation of talks.

The meeting also resolved to ask the Intergovernmental Authority on Development to address the status of Machar and urge the international community to continue to support the revitalized peace process in South Sudan.

Machar said last month he would not be part of the government if security is not completed.

“If there will be no government on the 12th (November), which there will be no government, we, [Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition], won’t be there because we do not want to put the country into crisis. We will opt and contain the troops. None of the troops is going to be left out,” Machar said Sunday in a meeting with the United Nations Security Council in Juba.

He said critical issues must be resolved, security arrangements must be in place, at least, and a cease-fire the country have been enjoying this year will be raptured as peace is tired of suffering.

South Sudan slid into crisis when Kiir sacked Machar as vice president in December 2013 on suspicion of plotting a coup, followed by a protracted civil war that claimed the lives of tens of thousands and forced 4 million people to flee their homes.

Before a 2018 peace deal, five years of fighting between the two leaders crippled the country, with millions displaced and almost 400,000 people dead from violence and disease.