South Sudan’s former first vice President and rebel leader Riek Machar says a political initiative is desperately needed to revive last August’s peace deal, saying the signed peace accord collapsed following July fighting in the nation’s capital Juba.
Machar told Radio Tamazuj in an interview that the peace agreement and the unity government have collapsed. However, he reiterated his movement’s commitment to implement the peace agreement.
The rebel leader emphasised on the need for a new political initiative to resuscitate the fragile peace agreement on the same terms. “The SPLM-IO meeting agreed that the peace agreement has collapsed, and the unity government has also collapsed,” said Machar.
“We said that we are committed to implement the agreement, so there is need to find ways to save the agreement, there should be a political process between the warring parties to revive the agreement and reconstitute the transitional government,”he added.
On Wednesday, Festus Mogae, chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), said that the fragile peace accord is still alive since several opposition groups are still serving in the unity government in Juba.
“What makes the agreement alive is that there are representatives of the opposition who are involved, and there are others who are currently not taking part, but they have not said they will not take part,” said Mogae.
File photo: Riek Machar