Machar has no role to play in South Sudan, says Kiir

What you need to know:

  • President Salva Kiir’s spokesman said Machar “has no space here”, and should not return to the country before elections in 2018.
  • Machar, who had become vice-president as part of a peace deal, fled the country following heavy July fighting in Juba.
  • Speaking from South Africa, Machar said his rebel faction could still negotiate a peace deal with President Kiir.
  • In July, Machar’s bodyguards and Kiir’s presidential guards fought one another, sparking days of violence.

JUBA

South Sudan’s sacked Vice-President Riek Machar no longer has a role to play as a political leader, the presidency has said.

President Salva Kiir’s spokesman said Machar “has no space here”, and should not return to the country before elections in 2018.

Machar, who had become vice-president as part of a peace deal, fled the country following heavy July fighting in Juba. But on Monday he vowed to return.

Speaking from South Africa, Machar said his rebel faction could still negotiate a peace deal with President Kiir.

In July, Machar’s bodyguards and Kiir’s presidential guards fought one another, sparking days of violence. Hundreds of people died and more than 100,000 fled across the border.

The fighting erupted less than a year after a peace deal was signed to form a unity government and end the civil war.

President Kiir’s spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said Machar “will look for his space as a citizen of South Sudan, but not as a political leader”.

Referring to the elections planned for 2018, Wek said: “I don’t think that he can even think to come before that.”

“It is better that Riek Machar stays away from South Sudan political scenes,” the spokesman added.

President Kiir’s and Machar’s followers have been accused of committing atrocities during the bitter civil war. More than 2.5 million people have been displaced since December 2013.

Meanwhile, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous is pleading with the Security Council to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan where he expects an upsurge in fighting as the rainy season ends.

MILITARY OPERATIONS

Ladsous told reporters that he had made his appeal directly to the council during a closed-door meeting on Monday.

“I think an arms embargo should happen now and that’s even very late,” Ladsous said.

“The rainy season is coming to a close and that has frequently been the time of the year when people go back to military operations,” he said.

The council is weighing its next steps in South Sudan after the government showed little cooperation with UN plans to deploy a 4,000-strong regional force.

The council voted in August to deploy the force in Juba and warned that if the government opposed the plan, it would face an arms embargo.

Prospects for peace faded when rebel leader fled the capital following heavy fighting in July.

Machar has been replaced by Taban Deng Gai and is now in South Africa for treatment. He has called for renewed war with the SPLA forces of President Salva Kiir.

“On the SPLA side, they do entertain the idea that they could achieve a military victory, so the political process comes second,” a senior UN official said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a letter to the council last week that Kiir’s government was imposing “significant limitations” to the proposed new force.

Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda have offered to contribute troops, but the Juba government has yet to give its approval for the makeup of the force, which will be under the command of the UN mission in South Sudan.