South Sudan’s warring parties clash over peace implementation

Juba, April 25, 2019 (SSNA) — South Sudan’s government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) have disagreed over best ways to implement the September 2018 peace agreement, two senior SPLM-IO officials with full knowledge of the squabble between the two main parties told the South Sudan News Agency (SSNA) on Thursday.

The officials disclosed that a meeting between the government, SPLM-IO, and other smaller political parties met on Thursday in Juba and that the meeting was mainly about the best option to make the peace deal a reality. The officials lashed out at the government, accusing Juba of being “desperate and unreasonable.”

“They [the government] and their allies from South Sudan Opposition Alliance requested a meeting and we agreed to attend it. But when we met with them, they simply asked us to support their call to immediately form a transitional government,” one SPLM-IO official explains.

“Are we supposed to first form a provisional government or implement peace provisions [security arrangements]?”  the official asked.

Another senior armed opposition official also stated that the government is not for peace, saying “we allowed them to visit all our forces and they can’t allow us to visit their forces.”

The South Sudan News Agency has learned that the government has divided itself into two groups with President Salva Kiir’s group determined to keep the same system while the other group led the Jieng Council of Elders (JCE) prefer to abandon the pact in its entirety.

The SPLM-IO further revealed to the SSNA that they recommitted to peace but will not be a part of any government if the security arrangements are not implemented.