A meeting on the number of states in Juba scheduled to take place today between President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar was postponed.

Talks, mediated by South Africa’s Deputy President David Mabuza, were to discuss the number of states and their boundaries in the meeting scheduled for today morning, but the opposition said that the meeting had been rescheduled for January.

Pouk Both Baluang, the SPLM-IO's director for information, told Radio Tamazuj this morning that the planned meeting had been rescheduled for the first week of January.

 “The IGAD Special Envoy for South Sudan, Ismail Wais said that the meeting has been postponed because the mediator is not in Juba. Ismail said the meeting will be held in the presence of South Africa’s Deputy President David Mabuza in January,” he said.

A meeting between President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar ended on Tuesday without breaking the deadlock over the number of states and their boundaries.

Both sides however expressed hope that the South African deputy president can play a big role in bridging the divergent viewpoints of the parties.

Government and opposition leaders have extended the deadline to form a unity government twice, most recently on November 7, 2019, and have twice failed to make any progress towards a unity government or adequate implementation of the peace agreement.

On November 12, President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar were given 100 days to resolve outstanding issues and form a unity government by February 2020.