This Week in South Sudan – Week 50

Monday 7 December

• Vice President James Wani Igga met with a representative from the SPLM-Former Detainees and the SPLM (IO) to confidentially discuss the return of opposition members to Juba.
• South Sudan’s government demanded the SPLM (IO) to drastically reduce the number of members on their advance team scheduled to return to Juba.

Tuesday 8 December

• An armed group calling itself the ‘South Sudan Armed Forces’ claimed its forces overran a SPLA military outpost in Longiro, Eastern Equatoria. Three government soldiers were allegedly killed in the attack.
• SPLM/A (IO) leader, Riek Machar, appointed his wife, Angelina Teny, as chairperson of the group’s ‘National Committee for Security and Defence.’

Wednesday 9 December

• According to official sources, at least five people were killed in Yambio, Western Equatoria, in clashes between the Arrow Boys and government security forces.

Thursday 10 December

• The UPDF have withdrawn its troops from South Sudan, but has been repositioned at the border between the two countries. The Ugandan government claimed this is for security purposes.
• A meeting of the Joint Political and Security Mechanism (JPSC) between Sudan and South Sudan was postponed due to undefined South Sudanese “security considerations.”
• The SPLM (IO) announced their advance team’s arrival in Juba has been postponed until further notice due to “intransigence” of President Salva Kiir’s government.

Friday 11 December

• Due to “technical problems”, the extra-ordinary SPLM convention, scheduled to take place on 12 December, has been postponed to the beginning of January in 2016.
• Foreign Policy, Dispatch: “No Foreign Aid, No Peace in South Sudan”
• Radio Tamazuj video: “Highlights of the US Senate hearing on South Sudan”

Saturday 12 December

• The SPLM (IO) claim President Salva Kiir’s governmenthas no legal mandate after their failure to form a transitional government by the 25 November deadline, as mandated by the August peace agreement.
• The South Sudanese government has ordered its army to shoot down any aircraft flying across its airspace without permission. The SPLM (IO) later criticized the decision.