South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar has decided not to take up an invitation from Uganda’s president Yoweri Moseveni to attend a consultative meeting for factions of the SPLM party to set aside their differences and work out a roadmap to reunify the party in Entebbe on Friday.
Last month, the SPLM faction loyal to President Salva Kiir and the SPLM-IO breakaway group in Juba led by Taban Deng signed an agreement mediated by President Yoweri Museveni to work for reunification.
But Pagan Amum, who leads a faction made up of party senior officials who were detained when the conflict began in December 2013, attended the meeting but declined to sign the document. The main armed opposition faction loyal to Riek Machar didn’t attend the meeting.
“I wish to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 15th June 2017 inviting me or any representatives of SPLM/SPLA (IO) to attend a consultation meeting in Entebbe on 16 June 2017. However, we regret that the SPLM/SPLA (IO) will not be able to attend the meeting due to short notice,” said Machar in a letter addressed to Uganda’s technical presidential adviser for South Sudan peace initiative.
“Secondly, I cannot travel because I am still under house confinement and detention. It may take President Museveni to intercede with President Zuma and IGAD leaders to let me free to travel. Such intervention would definitely take time, that makes it impossible for me to attend the meeting of 16 June 2017,” he added.
Machar stressed that the search for a sustainable peace is now the critical priority rather than reconciliation between the fractured SPLM factions or implementation of what he termed a “collapsed agreement.”
He urged the Ugandan government to consider supporting a new political process for peace talks to peacefully resolve the ongoing conflict in South Sudan. The rebel leader reiterated his commitment to peace in the country.