Help us prevail over Kiir, Machar tells Museveni
South Sudan opposition leader Riek Machar in Kampala yesterday. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
Turn around. Although he had previously said President Museveni has no business interfering in South Sudan affairs, Dr Reik Machar now wants Mr Museveni to convince president Salva Kiir to implement the peace deal
Kampala.
The leader of South Sudan armed opposition Riek Machar yesterday appealed to President Museveni to use “his influence” in Juba and prevail over his South Sudan counterpart to implement the peace agreement signed in July last year.
Mr Machar, who met President Museveni, the man he previously accused of interfering in the internal affairs of the youngest nation in the world, told journalists in Kampala that the President has the capacity to convince South Sudan leader Salva Kiir to implement the peace deal.
Dr Machar accuses his rival Kiir of abusing the implementation process by creating and increasing the number South Sudan states from 10 to 28 and putting movement restrictions on the his advance team that moved from exile in Addis Ababa to Juba.
“I hope President Museveni will assist us to see the agreement implemented. He played a very big role to see Kiir sign it. I know he has influence in Juba. Let the role he played in the signing continue to the level of implementation,” Dr Machar said.
Dr Machar said the creation of more states is supposed to be done after a new constitution comes into place but blames the Juba government for creating 18 states without seeking the consent of the Opposition.
The earlier statement issued by State House yesterday quoted Dr Machar during the meeting with Mr Museveni offering to start “a new chapter of peace and friendship” with Uganda.
Ugandan troops deployed in South Sudan in December 2013 to help the beleaguered government of president Kiir, pitting UPDF against Dr Machar’s fighters who were advancing from Bor to capture Juba.
At least 11 UPDF soldiers were killed in the battle and Dr Machar said he didn’t have apologies for the clashes because it was a war. “War is war. It takes life”
Dr Machar is accompanied by a 15 member delegation that includes Ms Angelina Teny, the chairperson of national committee for Security and Defence, Mr Ezekeil Lol Gatkuoth, the chairperson of the national committee on Foreign Affairs and Dr Peter Odwok, the national chairperson for the committee for training and research.
Dr Machar welcomed president Kiir’s statement that Juba was “normalising relations” with its hostile neighbour Sudan.
Background to creation of states
In October last year, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said the decision to reconfigure South Sudan’s internal boundaries and expand the number of states violates the peace deal for the young country. The regional bloc warned that forging ahead with president Salva Kiir’s order to create more states could jeopardise the peace process. Despite the criticism of president Kiir’s order, the South Sudanese Cabinet adopted the proposals to create the new states during an extraordinary meeting of the council of ministers in October.
