Civil society activists say a move to exclude South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar from a regional peace process will ensure that South Sudan remains engulfed in war. Ministers of the East African bloc IGAD said Monday that Machar will not be invited to the next meeting for the peace process, which is aimed at revitalizing a 2015 peace agreement between the rebels and South Sudanese government. “We already agreed that the process, all opposition groups including Riek Machar’s ideas, the representatives of Riek Machar, can be involved in this process. Rajab Muhandis, executive director of the South Sudanese Network for Democracy and Elections, or SSuNDE, said any revitalization process that excludes certain parties to the agreement risks failure. Key problems still to be addressedKolok said it is high time IGAD leaders renew efforts to restore calm in South Sudan and called IGAD resolutions passed on Monday nothing new.

Source: Ethiopian News July 26, 2017 21:11 UTC