South Africa’s Deputy President David Mabuza has expressed confidence that efforts to bring a fully-fledged peace agreement to South Sudan would be reached soon.
Mabuza said this on Friday following a meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Entebbe where he held talks with the Ugandan leader just days after President Salva Kiir and his former First Vice President Riek Machar met to affirm their latest desire to seal a unity government deal in Juba, the South Sudanese capital.
Mabuza and Museveni committed to working together with the Juba partners in matters relating to the implementation of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the South Sudan.
The Mabuza-Museveni meeting followed the consultative meeting of parties held in Juba from 2-4 December to finalise the contentious issue of the number of states and their boundaries for Africa’s and the world’s newest country.
The deputy president, who is South Africa’s special envoy to South Sudan, facilitated that consultative meeting of parties at the invitation of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development.
“In my meeting with President Museveni we further committed to working together in ensuring that the parties to the agreement stay on course and are supported in their efforts of making this peace process a success,” Mabuza said.
He added: “We are confident that when parties work together for the good of South Sudan, substantive progress will be made in this window period, thereby silencing the guns and building lasting peace in South Sudan.”
Currently, South Sudan is in the 100-day extension period to finalise all outstanding matters towards the formation of the much awaited Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity in Juba.
NM/jn/APA