South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar announced on Thursday February 20 that they have agreed to form a government of national unity on Saturday, a step considered crucial to ending at six years of civil war.
"We have agreed to form the government in two days, February 22 (Saturday). We are still discussing other issues and I have confidence that we will find a solution," said Riek Machar, after meeting in Juba with Salva Kiir. The head of state confirmed that the two men had agreed to govern together, after two previous attempts which had ended in failure.
It is the accusation of having fomented a coup d'etat brought by Salva Kiir, belonging to the Dinka people, against Riek Machar, his ex-vice-president, member of the Nuer ethnic group, who is at the origin of the civil war in December 2013.
And in July 2016, another experiment in union government came to an abrupt end when fierce fighting pitted Riek Machar's troops against the presidential guard of Salva Kiir in Juba.
Salva Kiir announced that he would dissolve the current government on Thursday and appoint Riek Machar to one of the posts of vice president on Friday, as provided for in the peace agreement signed in September 2018 in Addis Ababa.
Towards a dissolution of government
"As president, I will name the vice-presidents and I will start by naming Riek tomorrow morning (Friday). I will dissolve the government today (Thursday) and a new government will be formed on the 22nd," he said. . "These are changes that will bring peace," said the head of state.
The formation of a national unity government was the key point of the 2018 peace agreement. The two previous deadlines for forming this government had not been respected, disagreements persisted on the creation of a unified national army , the number of regional states and guarantees for the security of Riek Machar
President Kiir announced Thursday that his men will be in charge of the security of the capital, as well as that of Riek Machar. He called on the 190,000 or so people still living in UN-protected camps across the country to get out of it because a "new era of peace has arrived".
US welcomes agreement
The United States has welcomed the agreement reached in South Sudan between President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar to form a government of national unity.
Tibor Nagy, senior official of the US State Department in charge of Africa, welcomed on Twitter "the strong commitment made by Dr. Machar" for this long-awaited milestone and considered crucial to end six years of civil war. The United States gives Juba about $ 1 billion a year, mostly in humanitarian aid.
The civil war in South Sudan, which began in December 2013, marked by mass atrocities, has estimated an estimated 380,000 people and forced four million people to flee their homes.
With AFP
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