Donor governments have withdrawn funding for charter aircraft for SPLM-IO Chairman Riek Machar to return to the South Sudanese capital Juba, just a week after Machar skipped a flight provided for him after making “last minute” demands.
South Sudan’s government and SPLM-IO missed a deadline this Saturday agreed in a proposal by the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) for Machar to return to Juba, where he is due to be sworn in as first vice president under the terms of a peace agreement signed last year.
The British Embassy in Juba blamed the South Sudanese government for the latest delay, saying the government denied landing permission on Saturday to flights scheduled to bring Machar and his delegation back that day.
South Sudan’s National Security Service actually issued a letter on Saturday granting flight clearance from today, saying that airport maintenance and communication delays from the Ethiopian side had cased the delay.
The British Embassy noted, however, that there is also lack of preparation for Machar to arrive on Monday. “There has been a further lack of action to enable flights on 25 April. As a result of this interference, the deadline in the compromise proposal put forward by the international partners of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC)… has been missed,” the embassy stated.
Donald Booth, a US diplomat, said Sunday, “This marks the third time this week that plans for Machar to return … have been frustrated by one side or the other”
“Machar frustrated the first two attempts by a last minute insistence on bringing additional security forces and additional heavy weapons — RPGs — with him…Then yesterday it was the government that closed the airport,” he said, as quoted by AFP news.
Ezekiel Gatkuoth, head of foreign relations for SPLM-IO, separately said yesterday that Machar’s return was delayed by withdrawal of US funding for charter aircraft from Gambella.
“Definitely the transition is on hold unless we have another person that can volunteer to help transport the first vice president,” Gatkuoth said, as quoted by Bloomberg News in Ethiopia.
Canadian Ambassador to South Sudan Nicholas Coghlan stated that there is “nothing to stop SPLM-IO and/or the Government of South Sudan chartering their own aircraft.”
John Kirby, US State Department spokesman said, “Despite the best efforts by South Sudan’s neighbors, the Troika, United Nations Mission in South Sudan, China, the African Union, the European Union and, most importantly, by South Sudanese advocating for peace, leaders on both sides have blocked progress.”
He said the United States government is “disappointed” by the continued failure of the Government of South Sudan and by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement -SPLM/A-IO (IO) to form the Transitional Government of National Unity.