UN Seeks South Sudan Unity Government Even Before Security Deal

A demonstration in Khartoum on Sept. 23. Photographer: Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty Images

South Sudan should form a power-sharing government by the set deadline even if key outstanding issues on security and regional boundaries remain unresolved, a top United Nations official said.

President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar have until Nov. 12 to create a unity government to end five years of war between their forces that has left more than 400,000 people dead and devastated the economy with sub-Saharan Africa’s third biggest oil reserves.

Formation of the new administration was delayed by six months so the warring parties could agree on the cantonment and reorganization of their respective troops and resolve disagreements on state boundaries. Those pending issues can be settled during a transition period once the new administration is in place, according to the UN’s mission chief in South Sudan, David Shearer.

“The unification of forces is an ongoing thing and it’s going to take some time for that to happen,” he told reporters in the capital, Juba, on Wednesday. “If you look at peace agreements across the world that have occurred, it has taken years for forces to be properly unified and brought into one army.”

A similar power-sharing government in 2016 between the two leaders allowed them to maintain their forces separately. It collapsed just three months after formation when the troops clashed in the capital, forcing Machar to flee the country on foot.

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