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Peace efforts in S. Sudan need Machar to proceed: rebel spokesman

Xinhua, September 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Sudan rebels said on Monday that peace efforts in the world's youngest nation will only proceed with former vice president Riek Machar as a key player.

James Gatdet Dak, spokesman of Machar's faction of rebels known as Sudan People's Liberation Army-In-Opposition (SPLA/IO), said in Nairobi that the peace deal signed between the SPLA/IO and South Sudan's government in August 2015 has collapsed and can only be revived with Machar on board.

"We issued a communique to the South Sudan government on Sept. 23 for the revival of the peace agreement to avert further clashes," Dak told Xinhua in Nairobi.

"We are still waiting for response from the government, failure to which we would explore other options," Dak said without elaborating.

His remarks follow call by Machar over the weekend that he will "wage a popular armed resistance against the authoritarian and fascist regime of President Salva Kiir in order to bring peace, freedom, democracy and the rule of law in the country."

Machar, who fled to Sudan's capital Khartoum after clashes broke out between his supporters and Kiir's in Juba in July, called on the international community to "declare the regime in Juba as a rogue government and a spoiler of peace that is threatening regional and international peace and security."

The announcement is Machar's first since the fighting broke out.

The peace deal called for the demilitarization in Juba and required the government and the rebels to share control over the nation's oil fields.

Its implementation was delayed, and it fell apart after the two sides clashed in Juba and Machar fled to Khartoum from where, over the weekend, he called for renewed armed struggle against the government of Kiir. Enditem