Juba, January 15, 2020 (SSNA) — The government of South Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) have on Wednesday failed to resolve issues related to the execution of the September 2018 revitalized peace agreement, a senior government official with full knowledge of the matter says.
The official who asks for anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media disclosed to the South Sudan News Agency (SSNA) that President Salva and the SPLM-IO leader Dr. Riek Machar conducted a long face-to-face meeting and that the two sides failed to any single issue.
“It is true the two leaders met today but they failed to reach a deal on pending,” the official reveals, adding (negotiations will resume tomorrow.”
“We in the government believe a unity government will be formed by February 22 as the leaders agreed to in November last year,” he added
South Sudan’s rival parties are due to form a transitional government by the 22nd of February after the two sides failed to form a government twice.
It is not clear if Kiir and Machar will resolve the outstanding issues before the dateline. The issues being negotiated are the unification and training of the two rival forces, funding for peace implementation, demilitarization of main cities, number of States and boundaries, others.