Dr Riek and President Kiir meet Ethiopian PM, June 20, 2018 | Credit | SSBC

The main Opposition Leader Dr. Riek Machar is asking President Salva Kiir to convince IGAD heads of state to lift his house arrest in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

Dr. Machar fled in 2016 after renewed fighting between his bodyguards and government forces broke out in Juba.

The opposition leader had just returned to take up his position as first vice president in an interim government as spelled out in the 2015 peace agreement.

He was subsequently exiled to South Africa, where the IGAD placed him under house arrest.

However, with the signing of the revitalized peace agreement last year, he was relocated to Khartoum where he is staying presently.

According to the SPLM-IO chairman of information committee and public relations, he is unable to travel anywhere due to the IGAD order after Kiir sent him a letter, inviting him for a meeting in Juba.

“In his response Dr. Machar asked the President also to talk to the IGAD so they can lift his under house arrest because …he’s not free to move around,” Manawa Peter Gatkuoth told Eye Radio Monday.

Recently, President Kiir invited Dr. Machar to return to Juba to form the next government of national unity.

But he turned down the request, citing unimplemented security arrangements – prompting the parties to extend the pre-transitional period to November.

According to reports, the five years of fighting which was triggered by the two leaders has crippled the country, which saw mass rape, millions displaced and almost 400,000 people dead from violence and diseases.