. Machar

By SYLVESTER MWALE  in Luanda, Angola –
PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has accused South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar of disregarding the peace agreement that the former vice-president of the world’s newest country willingly signed with President Salva Kiir to end a 17-month conflict.
Mr Lungu has, however, assured that Zambia will support steps being taken by the government in South Sudan to end the conflict.
Mr Lungu and Mr Kiir were both in the Angolan capital yesterday to attend an extra ordinary summit of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) where they also held bilateral talks on the sidelines of the meeting.
The extra ordinary summit, which was attended by seven presidents, had a special focus on Burundi, Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as well as South Sudan.
Special assistant to the President for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda told journalists after the bilateral talks between the two leaders that Mr Lungu regretted the failure by Mr Machar to respect
the peace accords.
“President Lungu regrets that Mr Riek Machar, the former vice-president of South Sudan is not abiding by the agreement that he willingly subscribed to,” Mr Chanda said.
“So President Lungu has assured President Salva Kiir that Zambia will stand by the steps that South Sudan is taking to ensure that they bring about lasting peace in South Sudan”.
President Lungu, who is the first African head of State to openly apportion blame on the rebel leader since the conflict began, was recently asked to play a mediatative role in the conflict which has
killed thousands of people.
Mr Chanda said President Lungu would also urge leaders in the ICGLR to be categorical and apportion the blame where necessary.
“They must speak out clear on all the issues regarding the disturbances in South Sudan,” he said.
The conflict erupted in December 2013 after Mr Kiir accused Mr Machar of plotting a coup. The two warring factions have in the past accused each other of defying the peace deal.
Reports suggest that despite several attempts at brokering peace between the two leaders, fighting has continued, and more than 1.5 million people remain internally displaced and in desperate need of
humanitarian aid.
President Lungu was also scheduled to make his position on the conflict in Burundi where a dozens of people including some staff of the ICGLR have been detained in connection with the last week’s failed
coup.
Mr Lungu is also scheduled to speak on the situation in the DRC as well as regional efforts to fight terrorism especially in the horn of Africa.
Apart from Mr Kiir and the host president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, President Lungu also joined Catherine Panza-Samba of CAR, Joseph Kabila (DRC), Denis Sausso Nguesso (Congo) as well as South Africa’s Jacob Zuma who has been invited as a special guest.