President Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar shake hands in Juba on Sept. 9, 2019 | credit | Garang Abraham/Eye Radio.

The first vice president has been given permission to tour areas under the administrative control of his party SPLM-IO across the country.

“The meeting resolve that…Dr. Riak Machar, accompanied by some vice presidents and ministers, shall undertake a tour of different areas of the country for the purpose of disseminating R-ARCSS,” partly reads a statement.

Since his return to Juba in 2019, Dr. Riek Machar has never left the country. The leader has also not travelled anywhere outside Juba.

The SPLA-IO Chief of General Staff last year claimed that Dr. Machar’s inability to visit troops at the cantonment sites to update them on the implementation of the revitalized peace deal meant his movements were being restricted.

Some activists and members of the public also wondered why Dr. Machar was confined to his office in Juba during the implementation of the revitalized peace deal.

In a meeting of the presidency convened by President Salva Kiir yesterday, Dr. Machar was given the green light to visit his troops to disseminate the implementation of the peace accord.

“This measures is intended among other things, to help address some of the recurrent problem associated with freedom of access and movement within, areas still under the administrative control of the SPLM.IO by entrenching the reality that the RTGONU is a simple unified government having undivided jurisdiction over the entire territory of the republic of South Sudan,” the statement continues.

In April 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia issued a verbal note indicating that IGAD had not put any restriction on Machar’s travel to any country of his choice.

This eventually enabled Dr. Machar to travel to the Vatican to attend the spiritual retreat convened by Pope Francis.