Kiir capable of resolving Sudanese disagreements – Malik Agar

JUBA – Sudanese opposition leader and member of the transitional sovereign council Malik Agar has said that President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan is capable of resolving ongoing disagreements among the Sudanese parties and appealed to Kiir to continue supporting the Sudanese for peace.

Agar who fell out last month with his deputy and secretary-general Yasir Arman made the remarks to the media while on a visit to Juba where he met President Salva Kiir Mayardit on the ongoing peace process in Sudan.

“We came to Juba for two important things.  The first important thing is to come and share the happiness and joy with the people of this country South Sudan and their leaders, top of whom is their president Salva Kiir Mayardit and the First Vice President, Dr Riek Machar on the successful negotiation and consensus they reach to extend the lifespan of the transitional period to allow them to implement critical benchmarks in the peace agreement,” he told Sudan Tribune.

“The other is to congratulate them on the graduation of the necessary unified force. And finally, to ask the leadership here to continue to support and guide the implementation of the Juba peace agreement,” he told Sudan Tribune on Thursday,” he added.

The Sudanese opposition leader stressed that the Sudanese peace “agreement represents hope for lasting peace in Sudan. It is a framework for future democratic reforms.”

Agar, a member of the Sovereign Council of Sudan, was one of the key leaders in Sudan who sided with the Sudanese military leaders at the height of the mass protest against the military takeover following the resignation of ex-Prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok.

The SPLM-N leader was accompanied to the meeting by Blue Nile State governor, Ahmed Al-Omda Bade. South Sudan’s presidential advisor on security, Tut Gatluak Manime and the Executive Director in the president’s office, James Deng Wal attended the meeting.

Manime, separately told Sudan Tribune that matters discussed centered on the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement as well as Sudan’s peace agreement.

For his part, Governor Bade congratulated Kiir for the positive steps made in the implementation of the peace agreement, citing graduating the necessary unified forces.

The 2018 peace deal requires the parties to train and graduate a unified force of 83,000 personnel to take charge of security during South Sudan’s transitional period.