Machar to travel to Khartoum – aide

JUBA – South Sudan’s main armed opposition leader and the country’s First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, is travelling to the Sudanese capital Khartoum in the coming days, a close aide confirmed to Sudans Post this afternoon.

Last month, the SPLA-IO chief of staff, General Simon Gatwech Dual, wrote to the regional body, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGD), which mediate the revitalized peace agreement demanding that Machar be given chance to meet him over peace implementation.

Today, SPLA-IO spokesman Brigadier General William Gatjiath Deng told Sudans Post in an exclusive interview that the regional body hasn’t responded to that request yet and said the opposition military chief was still waiting for the regional body’s response.

It also remains unclear if the trip is part of General Dual’s request to meet the main armed opposition leader.

Speaking to Sudans Post this afternoon, a close aide to Machar said the opposition leader would travel to the Sudanese capital Khartoum in the coming few days without specifying the mission of the visit.

“Yes the First Vice President and Commander in Chief is traveling to Khartoum in the coming few days and we will let the media know about the mission when that day came,” the opposition official who requested not to be named said.