South Sudan’s government has today accepted a proposal by Festus Mogae on the number of weapons that Riek Machar may bring with him to Juba just a day after Minister of Information Michael Makuei said the government “has not accepted the proposal.”
The former Botswana president who is now chairman of South Sudan’s Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) is seeking a compromise whereby the SPLM-IO opposition leader Riek Machar will return to Juba with an armed escort.
Following a dispute over how many men and guns Riek Machar could bring with him on arrival to Juba, Mogae proposed yesterday that the two parties agree that he would bring no more than 195 men, 20 PKMs, and 20 RPG-7s.
Ceasefire monitors would verify these weapons in Gambella and on arrival in Juba.
SPLM-IO accepted the proposal immediately yesterday during a meeting of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, but the government spokesman and information minister was critical of the proposal, saying they would only accept seven RPGs and seven PKMs.
In a press statement this afternoon, JMEC announced that the government accepted the “compromise arrangements” proposed by Mogae for the return of Riek Machar.
“I am in receipt of a letter rom the Government’s Chief Negotiator, in which the Government accepts that the SPLM/A (IO) transport from Gambella twenty PKM machine guns and twenty RPG rocket launchers, in addition to te individual weapons of the 195 accompany personnel,” said Mogae, as quoted in the statement.
Mogae welcomed the decision of the government, calling it a “concession,” and he urged Machar to return on Saturday to Juba in order for the transitional government to be formed imediately.
Meanwhile, the SPLM-IO yesterday confirmed that Machar would be ready to travel to Juba on Saturday if the matter of RPGs and PKMs could be resolved. Machar himself indicated this in an interview with VICE News in Pagak, while his chief negotiator Taban Deng reiterated the same position in remarks to press in Juba.
File photo: Festus Mogae