South Sudan President, Salva Kiir, and opposition leader, Riek Machar, said
they made "significant progress" in talks aimed at ironing out issues
related to critical tasks.
South Sudan opposition leader Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir before their meeting in Juba, South Sudan, on September 11, 2019 |
In a brief
statement after today’s meeting, Kiir and Machar did not give details but said
the unprecedented talks in Juba were "productive".
President
Salva Kiir said progress had been made in the talks. “Rest assured that things
are going on well,” he said.
For his
part, opposition leader Riek Machar said their talks made important progress,
and the two sides had candid and constructive discussions.
“We have
made important progress. There shall be frequent meetings, particularly after
the IGAD summit,” Machar said.
Meanwhile,
the deputy chairman of Mr. Machar’s group, Henry Odwar said the second
face-to-face meeting discussed constitutional amendments and security laws.
Odwar added
that the two leaders also discussed the issue of non-signatories, pointing that
they emphasized the need to continue engaging the holdout opposition groups in
order to join the peace process.
“This peace
without them may have difficulties, and that’s why we have to move as one
people,” he explained.
The top
opposition official disclosed that the two principles agreed to set up a
committee to resolve the issue of states and boundaries.
“The two
principles agreed to have a committee, so the committee will look into the IBC
report. If we don’t reach a consensus in the committee, then the principles
will have to come together to come up with the final position on the number of
states and boundaries,” he said.
Information
Minister Michael Makuei said meetings between Kiir and Machar resulted in major
progress on security arrangements and political issues. He pointed out that the
parties will form a committee to break the impasse over determining the
number of states.
“The
committee will be established soon and it is supposed to accomplish its task
before the next IGAD summit,” Makuei explained.
Kiir and
Machar agreed to ensure the Transitional Government of National Unity is formed
by November, according to Makuei.
The meeting
between President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar comes as a 12
November deadline approaches to form a new government.
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