Seven South Sudanese opposition groups, including that f exiled rebel leader Riek Machar, on Saturday said they had agreed to work together in their bid to oust President Salva Kiir’s government, Reuters news agency reports.
The world’s youngest nation has been at war for more than three years now, with thousands of people killed and millions others displaced from their homes.
Signatories of the agreement included former government ministers Kosti Manibe and Lam Akol, as well as Thomas Cirillo Swaka, the military’s former head of logistics, who resigned in February citing rampant human rights abuses by the military and the dominance of President Kiir’s Dinka ethnic group.
“In working together, our efforts – political, diplomatic, and military efforts – can be more effective than when we operate as different units,” Reuters quotes Nathaniel Oyet, a senior official in Machar’s SPLA-IO group, to say.
The country has been listed as Africa’s biggest refugee crisis by the United Nations, now ranked third worldwide after Syria and Afghanistan.
Famine was declared in parts of the country earlier this year, attributed partly to the drought situation and the war.
More than 1.5 million South Sudanese have fled their country, and have sought refuge in neighbouring countries like Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda.
Last month, President Kiir said he would tour the nation to encourage national dialogue to end the war. He had earlier led a national day of prayer.
Riek Machar is however still in South Africa where he went to seek medical treatment but has not been able to find way back to South Sudan. East African regional leaders and the U.N. are opposed to his return, saying it would not help the situation in the country.
