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South Sudan political rivals reach truce, sign agreement to unify relations

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The political strife that has rocked South Sudan since its independence in 2011, may soon come to an end with the country’s strongest political rivals calling a truce on Sunday by signing an agreement meant to unify relations in key areas.

President Salva Kiir and his rival, Vice President Riek Machar, agreed on the creation of a unified armed forces command, one of several crucial issues reached in a 2018 deal to end the country’s bloody five-year civil war.

The terms of the 2018 agreement contracts provides for a sharing of leadership positions in the army, police and national security forces with the President’s camp taking 60% while Machar’s camp will get 40% of the positions.

According to South Sudanese Mining Minister and Representative of SPLM-IO, Martin Gama Abucha, who signed on behalf of the government, the agreement was very important for peace to return to the beleaguered country.

“Most important is not only the signing, but the implementation of these articles. We must implement what we are saying. The people of South Sudan expect us to do that.

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“The silence of the guns is most important to peace. We cannot continue to fight when we are talking peace in Juba so as much as we talk about peace, the guns must go down from today,” Abucha said.

There have been tensions between forces loyal to the president and former rebel leader and vice president Riek Machar, which had escalated in recent months, leading to fears of a return to full-scale conflict in the world’s youngest nation.

The United Nations Humanitarian agency on Saturday, raised an alarm warning that the country faces its worst humanitarian crisis since the it gained independence.

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