Edmund Yakani, CEPO executive director | Credit | Eye Radio

A civil society leader has appealed to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to put forward a plan to ensure that this month’s deadline for forming a unity government is not missed.

This comes after a planned return to Juba of the main opposition leader was cancelled by the IGAD.

Dr. Riek Machar was expected in Juba on Tuesday to continue talks with President Salva Kiir on pending agreement issues.

The SPLM-IO instead said Machar and Kiir may meet in Addis Ababa this weekend on the sidelines of the AU Summit.

The peace parties are yet to agree on the number and boundaries of the states – a critical part of the pre-transitional arrangements.

The Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, Edmond Yakani, expressed doubts the remaining days are enough to resolve the outstanding issues.

“The gaps in the implementation of the peace agreement, the failure of Dr. Riek to come to Juba is really sending a signal of causing havoc among the citizens,” Yakani told Eye Radio.

Yakani went on to urge IGAD to make sure the long awaited unity government is formed as planned.

“We need to hear a statement from IGAD what the next plan would be if Riek failed to come,” he said.

“When are they going to meet and will that meeting be fruitful to meet the dateline of 22 February? This is because we feel there are a lot of bumps towards meeting the dateline of 22 February and whether these bumps are going to be properly addressed.”

The other unimplemented issues include full training, unification and deployment of security forces.