Dr. Machar Again Refused To Meet High Level Committee of Salva Kiir’s National Dialogue

[Elisabeth Janaina]

Dr. Machar Again Refused To Meet High Level Committee of Salva Kiir’s
National Dialogue
June 30, 2017 Nyamilepedia Leave a comment

Dr. Riek Machar Teny, South Sudan's former Vice President and leader
of SPLM/A-IO(Photo: getty)

Dr. Riek Machar Teny, South Sudan’s former Vice President and leader
of SPLM/A-IO(Photo: getty)

June 30, 2017(Nyamilepedia) ——- South Sudan’s Dr. Riek Machar Teny,
the former Vice President, Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of
SPLM/A-IO mainstream was visited this week by South Sudanese elderly
politicians and spiritual leaders in attempt to persuade him to join
“the National Dialogue”.

According to South Sudan Embassy in South Africa, the high level
delegation was led by Hon. Angelo Beda Bangboru, the Co-Chairman of
the National Dialogue, and Rev. Mathew Mathiang Deng, a respected
elderly Politician and a former Moderator of Presbyterian Church of
Sudan.

Hon. Angelo and Rev. Mathew arrived in South African capital on June
27th and were accompanied by undercover security and members of South
Sudan media, who are loyal to president Salva Kiir.

According to the Embassy staff, who declined to be quoted, the
delegation was made up of seven members from Juba, who sneaked into
Johannesburg to meet Dr. Machar.

Machar’s office has confirmed Hon. Jeda’s arrival in South Sudan and
attempted to meet with Dr. Machar, however, the chairman of the armed
opposition declined to meet them again stressing that a national
dialogue cannot substitute resuscitation and full implementation of
the Peace Agreement which he signed in August, 2015.

In a previous letter, dated June 24th, Machar acknowledges the
important of a national dialogue but argued that the parties must
first silence the guns before the grassroots can dialogue and
reconcile.

“As much as we believe national dialogue is an important process for
the people for South Sudan to engage in, however, it is our considered
opinion that the priority is to end the raging genocidal war in the
country” Machar stated, June 24.

The growing demand to involve Machar or SPLM/A-IO in the National
Dialogue has come a long away.

Six months ago, both the President and the Co-Chairmen refused
representation from Machar’s SPLM/A faction or any other opposing
factions, however, as the National Dialogue dwindles, the president
and co-chairmen made allowance to accept participation from everyone
else except Dr. Machar.

Recently, Juba, Kampala and Addis Ababa made major shifts to
acknowledge the importance of Dr. Machar in Peace Implementation,
National Dialogue and Reunification of the bitterly divided SPLM.

This month, while a reunification meeting of the SPLM was adjourned in
Entebe until mid July to allow Dr. Machar to prepare to attend the
meeting or send a delegation, IGAD resolved to organize an inclusive
High Level Revitalization Forum that must consult and include Dr.
Machar and other stakeholders.

The IGAD meeting is scheduled for July 13, 2017, and consultations are
underway but whether Dr. Machar will attend or not is yet to be
confirmed.

The former Vice President, who has led the armed opposition for the
last three and a half years, has been forced to stay in South Africa
for almost a year, however, his influence in South Sudan remains very
significant.

Despite selective implementation of articles of the Agreement of
Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan(ARCISS) by Salva Kiir’s
government, South Sudan’s crises continued to deteriorate over the
last one year leaving the East Africa region, which receives huge
influx of refugees, and the International Community, shouldering
humanitarian responsibilities, to reconsider their initial position on
South Sudan Peace Agreement and Machar’s isolation.