Juba to end Machar house arrest

Former South Sudan vice president Riek Machar. FILE PHOTO | AFP 

By JOSEPH ODUHA
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The South Sudan government has accepted the lifting of a house arrest of former vice-president turned rebel leader Riek Machar.

Foreign Affairs ministry spokesman Mawuien Makol said in Jua that the government respects the decision taken by the regional bloc, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) to set Dr Machar free.

“Since Igad is the one brokering the peace in South Sudan, we accepted their decision,” Mr Makol told the Africareview.

Repudiates violence

The Igad council of ministers announced Tuesday that the house arrest of Dr Machar be lifted but on conditions that he repudiates violence.

The council further said it would bear responsibility to relocate Dr Machar from South Africa to a location outside the region, particularly to a country not neighbouring South Sudan.

“Igad council of ministers decides the house arrest of Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement–in Opposition (SPLM-IO) leader Dr Riek Machar be lifted as soon as possible, on conditions that ensure he will renounce violence and not obstruct the peace process and he be allowed to relocate to any country outside the region and are not neighbouring South Sudan.

His bodyguards

“Igad ministers will propose and decide a possible location,” the statement reads.

Dr Machar found himself in confinement in South Africa after the bloody clashes between his bodyguards and those of President Salva Kiir in Juba on July 2016.