Pope Francis attends an audience with the President of South Sudan Salva
Kiir at the Vatican, March 16, 2019. PHOTO | VATICAN MEDIA | REUTERS
The "leaders of South Sudan" are to visit the Vatican next week, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Media
reports said arch-rivals President Salva Kiir and rebel leader and
former vice president Riek Machar were expected to be at the Vatican on
April 9 and 10.
"I can affirm that scheduled next week
in the Vatican is a spiritual retreat for the leaders of South Sudan,"
Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said.
South Sudan country was born in a blaze of optimism in 2011 after it gained independence from Sudan.
But
rivalry between Kiir and Machar unleashed a civil war in 2013
characterised by brutal violence, rape and UN warnings about ethnic
cleansing.
More than 380,000 people have died and four million people have fled their homes.
In 2015, a peace deal brought Machar back as vice president, but it fell apart the following year and he fled the country.
Machar
is planning to return next month under a peace agreement signed in
Addis Ababa last September, but the process has been overshadowed by
fears of insecurity and lack of preparation.
Pope Francis has repeatedly voiced concern for South Sudan.
He granted an audience to Kiir last month and afterwards said he hoped to visit the country to "encourage the peace process."
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