Kiir won’t accept graduation of forces until states deadlock resolved – official

June 13, 2020 News, Newsbeat, South Sudan

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit speaks on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the country’s independence at the presidential palace in Juba on July 9, 2017 (Photo credit: VOA)

June 13, 2020 (SSNN) – South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, will not accept graduation of the necessary unified forces until the deadlock over the distribution of states is resolved, a senior government official has said Saturday.

Kiir’s SPLM-IG and other armed groups – including the main armed opposition SPLM-IO led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny – agreed for a power sharing deal in September 2018.

The peace agreement which ended the six-year-old conflict in February with the formation of the revitalized unity government calls for the deployment of NUF [Necessary Unified Forces] in the capital and important towns as well.

The parties have been negotiating the allocation of states which has emerged as a new impasse to the peace implementation with the two main signatories to the revitalized peace agreement feuding over key oil producing state of Upper Nile.

The government was supposed to graduate the VIP protection force this week but in a surprise move, the Joint Defense Board said there were funds for the graduation of forces and had to request the National Transitional Committee for money.

Speaking to South Sudan News Now this afternoon, a senior government official said the president is not willing to bless the graduation of forces unless the states dispute mainly between Kiir’s group and that of Machar, is resolved.

“The president is not for the graduation of the necessary unified forces unless the states dispute is resolved,” the senior government official said.

“What is important now is not the unified army. What matters the most now and what the president is giving a priority is the power vacuum created by the SPLM-IO intransigence to compromise on the states impasse,” the official said.

It is unclear how the SPLM-IO and other parties to the agreement will react to the latest comment by the senior government official who however requested not to be named.