‘Advise Kiir not to form unity gov’t without Machar’ experts warn as peace deal reaches fragile stage
President Salva Kiir Mayardit addressing military officers during a Military command Conference held in the capital Juba (credit:PPU)
Nov 4th, (SSNN)-The International Crisis Group (ICG) warned in a new report released on Monday that South Sudan is about to slide into another crisis as R-ARCSS parties strongly disagreed on the formation of a transitional government of national unity scheduled for 12 November.
In a statement obtained by South Sudan News Now, the statement explained that South Asian stands on the brink of unpredictable events and is most likely to see a repeat of violence as seen in the past few years.
“Even if the two leaders agree to share power, disputes over security arrangements and state boundaries would poison the new administration, potentially leading to its collapse,” the ICG said in a report.
“Either scenario risks reigniting a war that has killed, by some estimates, several hundred thousands of people and displaced one third of the population,” it added.
The group urged the Intergovernmental Authority for Development, an East African regional body, to “push the parties to agree on state boundaries and consensus on a new, incremental timeline for unification of their forces into a national army.”
The group predicted another possible incident similar to the 2013 scenario, saying President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Chairman of the SPLM-IO Dr. Riek Machar are like to vie for power within the ruling SPLM and it may end up being all-out war.
“If, amid such tensions, the two sides end up sharing control of the capital, as in 2016, then rising political temperatures along the path to elections scheduled for 2022 could spark new fighting,” it said.
“This scenario also closely resembles the situation in 2013, when the power struggle inside the ruling party led to a firefight between Kiir’s and Machar’s loyalists in an integrated presidential guard unit, the first skirmish of the six-year civil war,” the ICG said.
The International Crisis Group called on the international community and the region to pressure Kiir not to make a mistake by forming an interim government without involving the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-IO, one of the key signatories to the peace agreement.
Last month, during a face-to-face meeting, President Salva Kiir Mayardit and main armed opposition leader, Dr. Riek Machar disagreed on the formation of a unity government.
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