- Title: South Sudan's Machar says unlikely to be part of unity govt by Nov. 12
- Date: 20th October 2019
- Summary: JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN (OCTOBER 20, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** UNITED NATIONS PLANE TAXIING AT JUBA AIRPORT VARIOUS OF UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL DELEGATION ALIGHTING FROM THE PLANE AND STANDING ON THE TARMAC SOUTH SUDAN PRESIDENT SALVA KIIR WALKING ALONGSIDE U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL DELEGATION VARIOUS OF KIIR POSING FOR PHOTOS WITH U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL DELEGATION PEOPLE SEATED IN THE PLENARY HALL UN SECURITY COUNCIL MEMBERS SEATED AT THE HIGH TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) LEADER OF OPPOSITION, RIEK MACHAR, SAYING: "We want to do this right, we want to do it right. So if we are not there on the 12th as President Salva (Kiir) had threatened that he will form the government on the 12th, I ask my colleagues here do not blame us. We have a volatile situation that we want to control. We want this country to be peaceful." PLENARY HALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N., KELLY CRAFT, SAYING: "The security council called on parties of the agreement to expedite the process of implementing transitional security arrangements, to continue consultations on the issue of the number and boundaries of states and to peacefully form the revitalised transitional government of national unity by November the 12th." VARIOUS OF DELEGATES AT THE PLENARY
- Embargoed: 3rd November 2019 20:44
- Keywords: South Sudan Riek Machar opposition leader United Nations Security Council delegation unity government
- Location: JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
- City: JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
- Country: Sudan
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1WJ51J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: QUALITY AS INCOMING
South Sudan's main opposition leader, Riek Machar, told a visiting United Nations Security Council delegation on Sunday (October 20) that he will not be part of a unity government next month, dashing the prospects of progress in a stalled peace process.
The former rebel leader said the parties have failed to agree on ways to integrate the army, a key condition of a peace accord signed last year, and could not see how they could form a government without it.
"We want to do this right. So if we are not there on the 12th... I ask my colleagues here do not blame us. We have a volatile situation that we want to control. We want this country to be peaceful."
President Salva Kiir and Machar signed a peace deal in September 2018 after a string of failed agreements to end a civil conflict that has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, displaced a third of the population and ruined the country's economy.
The U.N. Security Council delegation however said that the problems identified by Machar can be solved by the Nov. 12 deadline.
In May, the two sides agreed to form a unity government in six months and in September said that they will establish a transitional government by Nov. 12 as part of the deal, but the pact has stalled because the government has said it does not have the finances to fund the disarmament and integration of the army.
South Sudan aims to hold elections after a transitional period of three years. The country secured independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of war but descended into its own conflict at the end of 2013 after Kiir sacked Machar as vice president.
The United States has said that it will not accept more delays to the formation of a transitional government and will re-evaluate its relationship with South Sudan and may impose sanctions on leaders if a government is not formed by Nov. 12.
(Production: Jackson Njehia, Tek Stephen) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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