South Sudan’s President, Salva Kiir has left the capital Juba for the Vatican where he is to attend a spiritual retreat organized by Pope Francis in a bid to try to build confidence between him and opposition leaders including Dr. Riek Machar.
Kiir’s travel came two days after the country’s First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai, left Juba for the Vatican ahead of the retreat.
The Presidency said in a statement that the talks are expected to bring together Salva Kiir and opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar, Gabriel Changson Chang, the leader of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) and Pagan Amum, who heads the SPLM-FDs.
However, as a surprise to many, an opposition diplomat told the media that until Tuesday evening, Machar did not receive any clearance to leave for the Vatican and as such he believes that the opposition leader may not be part of the talks.
“I think he is not going to attend this Vatican meeting,” the opposition official told the Nyamilepedia on condition of anonymity.
The opposition official further accused some regional leaders of preventing Machar from attending the important meeting aimed at building confidence between South Sudan’s political rivals, saying the Vatican had informed the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The same source said Abiy agreed but other regional leaders have rejected the idea of Machar going to the Vatican.
“The Vatican said it had written to the Ethiopian Prime Minster and did not hear back. We also spoke to him and he accepted but other leaders from the region made it very clear to us that they do not want Machar to attend the meeting,” the diplomat said.
IAN/as/APA