March 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, and the country’s vice president, Riek Machar, have tried this Friday to bring positions closer with a meeting after the recent dismissal of the interior and defense ministers, Mahmoud Solomon and Angelina Teny.
However, the meeting has led to a “deadlock” and no progress has been made, so both have agreed, “in a spirit of dialogue and cooperation”, to convene another meeting to “find friendly solutions on this issue”, has indicated the office of the South Sudanese Presidency, as reported by Eye Radio.
Kiir announced that the Defense Ministry, hitherto in the hands of Machar’s former rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO), will be handed over to his party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. Sudan-In Government (SPLM-IG), and vice versa.
In response, Machar’s SPLM-IO party, a former political rival of the president until the signing of a fragile peace agreement between the parties in 2018, described the decision as “unilateral” and a “violation” of the aforementioned pact. Thus, he asked that Teny, who is also his wife, recover his position.
South Sudan has a unity government that started after the materialization of said agreement. The Presidency announced in January 2020 that the signatory parties had agreed to once again extend the transition period, this time until 2023, to allow room for the application of the clauses of the pact, amid international requests to speed up the process. .
