South Sudan: Deng Gai urges refugees to return home

The First Vice President of South Sudan, Taban Deng Gai, has urged refugees who have fled the country to return home. Deng Gai visited the country’s southwestern state of Yei, to assess the general situation in the State, where he urged civilians to support the Transitional Government of National Unity, in order to bring a lasting peace in the country.

And as officials try to put together a team to lead the national dialogue, tension remains high in the countryside. A senior member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition, Peter Adwok Nyaba, says the country’s future lies in implementing the peace agreement that President Salva Kiir and Machar signed in August 2015.

South Sudan descended into chaos in December 2013 after Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of planning to overthrow the government. Civil war broke out when soldiers from Kiir’s Dinka tribe and Machar’s Nuer tribe started targeting each other.

A peace deal was signed in Addis Ababa Ethiopia to end the fighting, but fresh violence in July 2016 erupted in Juba, killing hundreds of people, and consequently pushing Machar to flee the country.