By Tufan Aktas and Addis Getachew
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) – South Sudan’s main rebel leader Riek Machar will arrive in the country’s capital Juba on Wednesday, his spokesman said on Tuesday.
This came on the heels of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan signed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in September by the warring parties, including the government and the main rival.
This is the first time he would travel to Juba in two years before becoming the country’s First Vice President of a new 36-month transition period ahead of elections.
“We hope that all will go well in Juba so that we catch up with the timeline as far as the peace implementation is concerned,” said Lam Paul Gabriel, Machar's spokesman.
South Sudan slid into civil war since mid-December 2013, in a fallout between incumbent President Salva Kiir and his then deputy-turned-rebel-leader Riek Machar.
A peace deal signed in August 2015 under a mediation by Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), was short-lived as Machar fled Juba and entered Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in fear of his life in mid-2016, which saw renewed fighting quickly spread across the nascent nation.
According to the UN, 1.74 million South Sudanese have been internally displaced by the conflict, while 2.47 million have sought refuge in neighboring countries.
