South Sudan president appoints rebel leader his deputy

In a bid to end fighting which has lasted more than two years, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has re-appointed his arch-rival Riek Machar as vice president, returning the government to where it was before fighting began.

Kiir’s decree restored Machar to a position he had held from 2005 until mid-2013, when he was removed shortly before the outbreak of civil war.

“I don’t see any reason why he should not come to Juba”.

Regional and western powers who backed the peace process were dismayed when unrest continued along the Sudans’ joint border, then fighting broke out inside South Sudan between Kiir and Machar’s factions.

“I, Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Republic of South Sudan, do hereby issue this Republican Decree for the appointment of Dr. Riek Machar Teny as the first vice President of the Republic of South Sudan”, said the decree issued late on Thursday.

Mr Machar told the BBC that Mr Kiir wasn’t doing him a favour by making him the vice president, but that instead he was just following a peace agreement they made in August.

“Unfortunately this has not happened”, Machar said. The rushed appointment has however come as a surprise.

He added the rebels have sent a delegation of about 300 people to Juba to try to build trust. In 2014, he formed the rebel group SPLM-IO (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition) and declared he would overthrow the government.

Mr. Kiir’s appointment of Mr. Machar is part of a peace deal that was reached in August. “It means we are implementing the peace agreement as stipulated”. “If Machar is going back to Juba, that would be a step in the right direction in de-escalating tensions”. The deal also requires the formation of a transitional government; demilitarization of the capital, Juba, which has remained under government control with the assistance of Ugandan forces; and requires the government and rebels to share control over the nation’s oil fields, where fighting has been fiercest, according to The New York Times.

Observers however say the coming of the opposition forces to Juba is serious test to the government on the peace deal with senior political and military leaders opposed to the implementation of the security arrangements in the capital.