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South Sudan Rebel Leader Returns

South Sudan Rebel Leader Returns
folder_openSudan access_time7 years ago
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Local Editor

In an attempt to end the civil war that in two and a half years has killed tens of thousands of people and forced more than 2 million from their homes, South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar returned to the capital Juba Tuesday afternoon, to become vice president.

South Sudan Rebel Leader Returns


After landing at Juba International Airport, where doves were released and a welcoming crowd ululated, Machar briefly addressed the press before driving to the presidential palace to be sworn in as first vice president to President Salva Kiir, according to a peace deal signed eight months ago under intense international pressure.

Machar flew from Gambella, Ethiopia, just across the border from his rebel headquarters in South Sudan, on a UN plane.

"I'm happy to be back," Machar told reporters at the airport. "The war was vicious. We have lost a lot of people in it and we need to bring our people together so that they can unite, reconcile, heal the wounds, the mental wounds that they have.

He further stated: "There will be challenges ahead, there will be obstacles but as long as there is political will we can overcome all these challenges, all these obstacles."

After the swearing in ceremony, Kiir said, "Peace is the only choice for us to relieve our people the undeserved suffering associated with armed conflict enforced upon them. I believe this is the only way to return South Sudan to the path of peace, stability and prosperity."

The August peace deal calls for a two-year transitional government of ministers and parliamentarians from the two sides before new elections.

Machar's return is one of the biggest steps toward realizing the peace deal meant to end the fighting, but should not be met with "huge optimism," cautioned Jacob Chol, dean of Juba University's political science department.

"It doesn't mean that the implementation of the peace deal is fully on board or fully implemented, because a lot of issues are yet to be sorted out in the agreement," Chol said.

At the United Nations, the Security Council welcomed Machar's return and swearing in and strongly urged both leaders to quickly form the transitional government, fully implement the peace agreement, respect human rights and deal with the "dire humanitarian situation."

Despite Machar's return, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous called the situation "very worrying," saying it's vital to change the political and security trends in the country "if we wish to see a possibility for the peace process to succeed."

Now the government must end the fighting, resettle millions of displaced, stabilize the collapsing economy, reintegrate the split army and cooperate with a court to be set up by the AU to try perpetrators of atrocities.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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