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UN chief hails swearing-in of South Sudan's first vice president

Xinhua, April 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday welcomed South Sudan's former opposition leader Riek Machar's swearing in as the country's first vice president.

"The secretary-general welcomes the return of Riek Machar to Juba and his swearing in as the First Vice President which marks a new phase in the implementation of the peace agreement," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement read to the press here.

"The secretary-general calls for the immediate formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity," the statement said. "He commends the efforts of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) Chairperson former President Festus Mogae and the AU High Representative former President Alpha Oumar Konare."

The secretary-general also calls on the UN Security Council to work closely with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) to mobilize all the required support for the peace process, said the statement.

Earlier Tuesday, Machar was sworn in as first vice president shortly after his arrival in Juba, two years after fleeing the city on Dec. 15, 2013.

Civil war erupted in South Sudan in December 2013 when President Salva 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 the Transitional Government of National Unity. Enditem