Africa
UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has welcomed the signing of Agreement of Outstanding Issues on Governance and Responsibility Sharing by South Sudanese warring parties in Khartoum on Sunday.
Guterres, in a statement by his Deputy Spokesman, Mr Farhan Haq, said the signing of the agreement was an important step in the revitalisation of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS).
He commended the leadership of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD)-led High Level Revitalisation Forum (HLRF) and the efforts of the Republic of Sudan to broker an inclusive political settlement of the conflict in South Sudan.
Recalling earlier agreements between the parties, the Secretary-General urged all parties to work in good faith and demonstrate commitment to fully implement and finalise the revitalised ARCSS as soon as possible.
Guterres reaffirmed commitment of the UN to support, in close coordination with IGAD and the African Union, the achievement of a fair, inclusive and sustainable peace agreement for the people of South Sudan.
By the Sunday agreement of a final peace pact, the parties to the conflict in South Sudan ended more than four years of conflict in the youngest African nation.
President Salva Kiir, opposition leader Riek Machar, a representative of the former political detainees and representatives for other South Sudan opposition groups signed the agreement at Sudan’s Friendship Hall in Khartoum.
The agreement focused on governance and security between the warring parties.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Al-Dirdiri Ahmed, announced that the holdout opposition groups had finally agreed to sign the deal.
Direct peace talks in the Sudanese capital between Kiir and Machar, in addition to representatives of other South Sudan’s opposition groups, were hosted under patronage of Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir.
Under the pact, South Sudanese Government and opposition groups agreed to have five vice presidents during the transitional period, with Machar reinstated as the country’s first vice president.
The deal also provides for 35 ministries during the transitional period while there would be 550 members of parliament. (NAN)
– Aug. 7, 2018 @ 08:59 GMT |
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Tags: UN hails South Sudan’s warring factions’ peace agreement
