South Sudanese former rebel group SPLM-IO says it plans to send an advance team to Juba to help implement the August peace deal, but it has also said that the arrival of this team is conditional.
An SPLM-IO commander and several other armed opposition figures said yesterday that their advance team led by Taban Deng Gai would go to Juba between Tuesday and Wednesday. They hope that as many as 550 representatives, comprising military commanders, politicians, women and youth representatives will participate in the delegation.
Machar’s spokesman James Gatdet Dak said in a statement Friday that “our advance team of over 500 cadres has been ready to travel to Juba and to the other SPLM (IO)’s proposed 21 states.”
Part of the team’s purpose would be to mobilize a large reception for Riek Machar upon his return to Juba, an SPLM-IO information official told Radio Tamazuj earlier this month.
However, likely the government does not want to receive an advance team so large. The prospect of a large rally for Riek Machar upon his return to Juba, casting him as a returning hero, is not appealing to the government.
It is not yet clear how many delegates from the SPLM-IO the government are prepared to host. Dak said in another statement on Sunday, reported by Sudan Tribune, that the advance team of 550 cadres may travel to Juba in the next few days “if logistical preparations are made.”
This contradicted Dak’s own statement Friday, in which he said the arrival of the advance team will depend on political considerations, not logistical ones. He said specifically that their return “will depend on resolution of political violations to the Peace Agreement by President Salva Kiir’s government.”
He was possibly referring to the Establishment Order issued by Salva Kiir to create 28 states, a move that contradicts the peace agreement, which contains only 10 states.
Dak revealed that there had been mounting international pressure on the SPLM-IO to send representatives to Juba. The group was criticized after failing to participate in the inaugural meeting of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission on Friday in Juba.