A senior member of the SPLM has called on the opposition to replace First Vice President Riek Machar.
After recent fighting in the capital city, Machar and his presidential guard left due to safety concerns, and his representatives have said that the government is not serious about peace.
In an interview Monday, SPLM secretary for information Bol Makueng told Radio Tamazuj that their party is waiting for the SPLM-IO leadership to replace Machar, and they would accept whoever is nominated.
“We are waiting for the reply from the opposition,” Makueng said, and the SPLM-IO “will tell us the replacement.”
Peter Gatkuoth, a senior member of the SPLM-IO, said the attempts to replace Machar show the government’s reluctance to implement the peace agreement.
”The SPLM-IO Political Bureau and the SPLM-IO Liberation Council are the two bodies that can sit and select someone to replace Dr. Riek Machar. This move will not solve the problem. The issue is not about replacement — the issue is that the government is not serious in the implementation of the peace” Gatkuoth said.
Kiir’s faction rejects intervention force
Separately, the SPLM faction led by President Salva Kiir said it categorically rejects any intervention force under the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
A recent meeting from the African Union and IGAD said that a regional force should enter Juba to separate the government and opposition.
Bol Makueng Yol, spokesperson of the SPLM faction in Juba, told Radio Tamazuj that the move would be considered as a declaration of war.