Juba, Sudan’s newly appointed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok is expected to officiate a one-on-one meeting between South Sudan rival leaders, an official has said.
Agok Makur, a member of main opposition leader Dr Riek Machar’s group SPLM-IO on Monday evening said that Khartoum was planning a face-to-face talks between Machar and President Salva Kiir in Juba.
“Now there is a move from Sudanese government for the meeting between the opposition leader Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir in Juba with the supervision of the new Sudan Prime Minister who will come with Dr Machar,” Mr Makur told journalists in Juba.
Mr Makur, however, did not give a date for the meeting.
Regional bloc Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) had earlier proposed a meeting between the two leaders to resolve outstanding issues obstructing the implementation of the September 2018 peace agreement.
President Kiir and Dr Machar, however, have been reluctant to meet over disagreement on the venue for the meeting.
Last month, Kiir rejected Igad’s invitation to meet with Machar in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and instead proposed Juba as the main venue for the talks but Machar cast doubt over his safety.
A Sudanese daily Arabic newspaper, Al-Intibaha, reported that Machar had hired some members of the feared paramilitary group of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to guard him during the trip if security arrangements remain incomplete.
The Khartoum-based daily added that Dr Machar will meet President Kiir in October prior to the formation of the new transitional government on November 2.
Kiir and Machar signed a revitalised peace deal last September and pledged to work together again for the third time after several years of fighting.
Civil Society groups in Juba cite lack of trust and confidence among the two leaders as the key setback to the current peace deal.
By The Eastafrica
