South Sudan’s government has again expressed its rejection of the demand to dissolution of the army, the country’s vice president confirmed.
The opposition has recently demanded the dissolution of the army at peace talks to halt nearly four years of fighting, but the government flatly refused the call.
Vice President James Wani Igga said on Saturday that South Sudan negotiators must be objective at the peace talks instead of coming up with impossible demands.
He reiterated his government’s rejection to the dissolution of the army.” If we dissolve the army, even for three days, this country will be occupied by force. Birds will come from nowhere,” he said.
“This is definitely the most unwise proposal. If Lagu had said this to Nimeir that time, I think Lagu would have remained in the bush until today,” he added.
“If we, with those of Dr. John had insisted that the army must go, if we had done the same in the CPA, we would not have gotten the referendum and our freedom now.”
Igga said that the opposition demand to dissolve the national parliament in Juba was not reasonable. “Who is going to endorse the agreement that is going to be signed?” he asked.
The top government official further said a large number of people in the country will not accept the demand to revert to the defunct 10 states.
“It is important to tell all our negotiators to be objective,” he said.
Igga was speaking at the launch of South Sudan’s Great Run for Peace that brought athletes from the East African region for the 10 kilometers race to show solidarity with the war-affected South Sudanese.