South Sudan Senior Presidential Adviser and Special Envoy Nhial Deng praised the signing of the so-called Cairo Declaration regarding the unification of two factions of the South Sudan\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Movement (SPLM) at the Egyptian Intelligence\u2019s headquarters in Cairo last week.<\/p>\n
The South Sudanese delegation\u2019s successful visit to Egypt enabled the parties to solve the outstanding issues in the reunification of the SPLM since the meetings in Kampala, Deng said upon his arrival to Sudanese capital Juba.<\/p>\n
\u201cA group of former detainees of the movement had a few reservations as to the reunification of the SPLM, which is why we went to speak to them and we were able to reach an agreement on the outstanding issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Sudanese news site Sudan Tribune quoted Deng as saying that the new deal does not recognize Riek Machar as the leader of the SPLM-IO faction. However, he may join the IGAD-led reunification process.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the SPLM-IN opposition, led by the former First Vice President Riek Machar, denounced the Cairo Declaration and called for the release of its leader in South Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Cairo Declaration that was signed by the fragmented factions of South Sudan\u2019s SPLM party will not bring peace without the release, return and full participation of SPLM-IO Chairman and Commander in Chief Riek Machar Teny,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n
It further called on the Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to secure Machar\u2019s release, and allow him to fully participate in the IGAD high-level reunification forum and SPLM reunification meetings.<\/p>\n
Last June, Machar declined to attend the Kampala meetings and take part in the reunification process urging for his release first. However, Juba refused his participation in person in the process saying his group can be represented by other delegates.<\/p>\n
Edited translation from al-Masry al-Youm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Sudan Senior Presidential Adviser and Special Envoy Nhial Deng praised the signing of the so-called Cairo Declaration regarding the unification of two factions of the South Sudan\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Movement (SPLM) at the Egyptian Intelligence\u2019s headquarters in Cairo last week. The South Sudanese delegation\u2019s successful visit to Egypt enabled the parties to solve the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":54418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7863],"tags":[27091,27093,27090,8282,27092],"class_list":["post-54413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-section","tag-igad","tag-riek-machar","tag-splm","tag-sudan","tag-yoweri-museveni"],"yoast_head":"\n