Lam Akol, a former minister in Kiir’s government, fled Juba in 2016 when a former peace deal collapsed and fighting erupted in the capital. A signatory to the September 2018 peace deal, Akol said Thursday he had returned to Juba to help “speed up” implementation of the accord. South Sudan descended into war in December 2013 when Kiir accused Machar, his former deputy, of plotting a coup. Under a previous deal, Machar returned from exile with a group of bodyguards in July 2016, sparking a battle in Juba that forced him to flee the country. Akol was once seen as Kiir’s main opposition, and ran against him for the presidency in 2010, a year before South Sudan’s independence.

Source: The Guardian February 07, 2019 12:22 UTC