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South Sudan rebel leader again accuses President Kiir of violating peace deal

South Sudan rebel leader again accuses President Kiir of violating peace deal

South Sudan

South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar has again accused President Salva Kiir of violating the provision in the peace deal by creating the 28 new states.

He said the move is a “big impediment” to ending the civil war in his country.

South Sudan missed a deadline to form a unity government, a key demand in the peace agreement.

The rebels, are reported to have refused to send the names of their ministers proposed to be included in the new administration. “I have not violated any provisions of the agreement – it is the government that has violated the agreement. Ask them, where are they taking us? My team is in Juba, soon we will send more teams to Juba for the dissemination of the peace agreement,” Machar said. The government and the rebels continue to accuse each other of breaching a peace deal signed in August 2015.

“Once you hear that the parties have agreed on a draft of a constitution and the draft is taken to the Transitional National Assembly, and the assembly has passed it, the next day I will be in Juba. Because if I went to Juba now, what will I go and do, complain? Get restricted not to come to Kampala, now Kampala has been a home to me these days,” Machar said.

A political analyst said just because the “guns are silent it doesn’ mean the war is over”. Angelo Izama said there was simmering tension between the two factions. “Only people who are external, who are involved in this kind of diplomacy, would like to advertise that the peace negotiations have delivered actual peace, no I don’t think so. There is a state of war there that will be permanent until the political conditions completely reverse and this hasn’t happened. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if actual fighting breaks up pretty soon,” Izama said.

A UN panel that monitors the conflict in South Sudan on Monday said in its report that Riek Machar and Salva Kiir should be sanctioned for the atrocities in the country.

Over two million people have been displaced and over ten thousand killed in the two year conflict.

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