Juba : South Sudanese President Salva Kiir reappointed rebel leader Riek Machar as his deputy, a key step in a deal to end a two-year civil war that’s killed tens of thousands of people in the oil-producing nation.
Kiir’s previous deputy, James Wani Igga, was moved to the post of second vice president and sworn in Friday in the capital, Juba. Machar served as Kiir’s vice president until being fired in July 2013, five months before the conflict began. Under a peace accord signed in August, Machar will join the president in a 30-month transitional government, leading to new elections.
“Let us hope that Riek Machar responds very fast and we get the transitional government started,” presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said by phone from Juba. A spokesman for Machar said he may be able to take office by the end of February after his supporters position their fighters and police around Juba as part of the agreement.
South Sudan’s conflict erupted in late 2013, sparked by a power struggle within the ruling party that led to a fracturing of the army and Machar assuming leadership of rebels mainly from his Nuer ethnic group. More than 2 million people have been forced from their homes since, with the United Nations saying 2.8 million urgently need food aid and at least 40,000 are on “the brink of catastrophe.”
“If we succeed in getting logistics for forces to go into town by the coming two weeks, there is nothing holding him back from going to Juba,” Nyarji Roman, Machar’s deputy spokesman, said by phone from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Abba, where the rebel leader remains.
@Agency news.
