国际英语资讯:South Sudan govt agrees delay of unity govt formation to avert war: official_时事

国际英语资讯:South Sudan govt agrees delay of unity govt formation to avert war: official

Henry Odwar, deputy chairman of the main rebel group, Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) said the delay would allow the parties to resolve the pending issues.

"In the last eight months, we were unable to implement the security arrangements and we hope in the next six months, we should be able to implement the security arrangements. We need to work together so that we achieve peace," Odwar said.

Gabriel Changson Chang, chairperson of Opposition Alliance, a grouping of smaller armed factions in the peace deal, said the extension was not to destroy the peace deal, but it was meant to salvage the deal from collapse.

South Sudan descended into civil war in late 2013, and the conflict has created one of the fastest growing refugee crises in the world.

The UN estimates that about four million South Sudanese have been displaced internally and externally.

A peace deal signed in August 2017 collapsed following renewed violence in the capital Juba in July 2016.

Under the 2018 peace deal, opposition leader Riek Machar, will once again be reinstated as President Salva Kiir's deputy.

Deng Alor kuol, representative of SPLA-FDs, a group of former politicians detained during the onset of the conflict in 2013, said the extension is a testing moment for the various factions to show commitment and settle the outstanding issues within the six-month period.

"The six months extension, we cannot extend it more. So, we have very difficult period to make sure that we do everything within the six months. We do not want to disappoint ourselves, disappoint the people of South Sudan once more," said Alor.