Unity Government Formed Without SPLM-IO Won’t Be Recognized – Trump Administration
Oct 8, 2019(SSNN) — The United States government, one of the key guarantors of the Revitalized Peace Agreement, has urged South Sudan’s government and opposition parties to focus on resolving pending issues impeding the implementation of the peace deal.
Speaking to the press on Monday, the US Ambassador to South Sudan, Thomas Hushek, stressed that the South Sudanese government and opposition groups should discuss outstanding issues, such as the number of states and other tasks that have not been implemented.
“They need to be talking about settling this outstanding political issue of the number and boundaries of states… the government party has refused to participate in the ones that the IGAD tried to call and yet they haven’t established any other mechanisms to discuss that outstanding political issue,” said the US diplomat.
Last month, South Sudan’s President, Salva Kiir Mayardit, and leader of the main armed opposition group, Dr. Riek Machar, agreed to form a transitional government by November but the SPLM-IO leadership on Monday expressed its objection to joining the unity government over unaddressed issues.
He noted that a transitional government of national unity formed without the involvement of all R-ARCSS signatories would not be recognized as a unity government.
“It cannot be a unity government of the incumbent government that moves ahead without the SPLM-IO or other signatory parties drop out,” he stressed.
“When you hear us talking about the need for political space here in South Sudan as part of the peace agreement, that’s about making sure that all parties whether they signed the peace agreement or not, have room to champion political change,” he added.
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