1st LD Writethru: S. Sudan's Machar expected in Juba later Saturday

South Sudan First Vice president Designate Riek Machar who has twice postponed his return early this week is finally due in Juba later Saturday to form the unity government with President Salva Kiir, his spokesman said.

"Machar is scheduled to arrive in Juba at 1:00 p.m. and our Chief of General Staff General Simon Gatwech Dual will arrive this morning at 10:00 a.m.,"spokesman James Gatdet Dak told Xinhua.

Machar's return and subsequent swearing-in as vice president are seen as key steps towards implementation of the August 2015 peace deal.

The peace agreement, which has failed to end the civil war, gives government 16 ministerial positions, rebels 10, and former-detainees and other political parties' two positions respectively.

The Saturday move came a day after the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), a body which oversees the implementation of the peace deal, announced that the government had finally accepted the agreed number of 195 opposition troops to accompany Dual, who will arrive in Juba ahead of Machar.

However, the spokesman said that in case the arrival of Machar and his chief of general staff might delay on Saturday, then it will be from Juba government late demand to dispatch their verification team to Gambella to verify weapons before issuing landing permission.

"So this may unnecessary delay the arrival of the Chief of General staff and also Machar. So we are waiting the team from Juba to verify the weapons and if they verified and report back, they later give landing permission which will carry the soldiers and weapons," Dak said.

The Juba government has agreed that the opposition troops who would come from Pagak via Gambella airport in Ethiopia would be allowed to bring into Juba their heavy fighting machines.

Machar's advance team and 1,370 protection troops have arrived in Juba despite continued clashes between his troops with the SPLA in Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria regions.

Civil war erupted in December 2013 when President Kiir accused his former deputy Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that have split the country along ethnic lines.

The conflict has reopened deep ethnic tensions in the world's youngest country, which only won independence from Sudan in 2011.

Peace talks between Kiir and Machar stalled several times, but the two leaders eventually signed peace agreement in August last year, paving way for the formation of government of national unity. Enditem