Last batch of South Sudan rebels arrive in Juba

The last batch of 90 Sudan People's Liberation Army - in opposition (SPLA-IO) arrived in Juba on Sunday, bringing the total number of protection troops to 1,370 as required by rebel leader Riek Machar who is expected to return and form an interim government of national unity with President Salva Kiir.

"The final batch of 90 SPLA-IO came through Malakal from Kaladak in the Shilluk Kingdom to make the 1,370 troops," William Ezekiel, the spokesperson of the SPLM-IO advance team told Xinhua.

The rebels arrived aboard a commercial chartered plane because United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) grounded its planes that previously transported rebels.

Ezekiel added there has been good cooperation from the government in receiving the returnee rebels but condemned the continued provocations that have led to clashes in Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria regions where government denies existence of rebels.

Machar indicated on Wednesday in a letter to the peace deal monitoring body, the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission Chairperson, Festus Mogae that he will be returning to Juba on April 18 after the arrival of his 1,370 protection troops.

Mogae had proposed April 12 for Machar's return and April 14 for the inauguration of the transitional government, but Machar said the timetable was "not workable".

The peace deal, signed by the two leaders last August under UN pressure, leaves Kiir as president and returns Machar to his old job as deputy.

The JMEC is yet to announce whether it will accept Machar's arrival date. Machar, through the spokesman, applauded the JMEC efforts in transporting his troops to Juba that begun on March 24.

His troops are expected to be incorporated into government forces and police.

The more-than-two-year civil war in South Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced over two million, among them some 200,000 are living in UN protection camps, with about five million facing food shortage. Enditem