South Sudan peace deal needs six more months, says former rebel leader
The two sides of war-ravaged South Sudan will not be able to meet a May 12 deadline to form a unity government because key requirements of a peace deal have not been met, former rebel leader Riek Machar said.
Mr Machar – who would regain his post as vice president under the deal – said the government and the rebels needed another six months.
He spoke from Rome after attending a two-day retreat with South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, hosted by Pope Francis.
Although few diplomats expected Mr Kiir and Mr Machar to meet the May 12 deadline, the delay will cause further unease among South Sudan’s 12 million people.
More than a third were uprooted from their homes and about 400,000 died in the civil war that plunged parts of the country into famine and has been characterised by such extreme sexual violence and widespread ethnic cleansing that the UN warned in 2017 of a possible genocide.
Asked if he thought the national unity government could be ready by May 12, Mr Machar said: “Unfortunately, I have to say ‘no’.”
A six-month extension was needed to unify and station defence forces, demilitarise the capital Juba and other cities and agree on the devolution of power plus the release of political prisoners, he said.
Mr Machar said he discussed the extension with Mr Kiir during the retreat at the Vatican that ended on Thursday with an appeal by the Pope to the leaders to respect the armistice and resolve their differences.
In a widely shared moment, Pope Francis knelt and kissed the feet of the two South Sudanese rivals in an unprecedented display of humility to encourage them to work towards implementing the peace process.
“I express my heartfelt hope that hostilities will finally cease, that the armistice will be respected, that political and ethnic divisions will be surmounted and that there will be a lasting peace for the common good of all those citizens who dream of beginning to build the nation,” Pope Francis said.
The country’s vice president, Rebecca Nyandeng Garang de Mabior, said Pope Francis’s actions moved her profoundly.
“I had never seen anything like that. Tears were flowing from my eyes,” she said.
While the leaders discussed extensions to the timetable and ways forward, the situation in neighbouring Sudan – which helped broker the deal in its breakaway former province – loomed over the talks.
A military coup on Thursday fuelled worries that the toppling of longtime president Omar Al Bashir could derail the already fragile South Sudanese peace deal.
“Sudan has helped us with the peace deal. We hope that the new system will also focus on the agreement, ensuring that it will be implemented,” Mr Machar said.