President Museveni to send Observer to Arusha talks

President of Uganda, H.E. Yoweri Museveni in a meeting with Special Envoys of President Jakaya Kikwete,  Hon. Bernard Membe, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Coopertion of Tanzania and CCM Secretary General Abdulrahman Kinana at the State House in Entebbe of recent. 

Hon. Bernard K. Membe (Centre), Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Tanzania, exchange views with Hon.Okello Oryem, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uganda together with Mr. Abdulrahman Kinana (left) Secretary General of CCM.

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President Museveni to send Observer to Arusha Talks

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has joined his Sudan and Kenya counterparts in endorsing the Arusha dialogue to reunite the warring factions of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), brokered by Tanzania’s ruling party, CCM.

President Museveni told the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Coopertion, Hon. Bernard Membe and CCM Secretary General Abdulrahman Kinana, Special Envoys of President Jakaya Kikwete at State House in Entebbe on Thursday, that he would send an observer to the talks scheduled to resume on December 11.

“There is no alternative to reuniting SPLM . CCM must continue the effort and achieve full or even part SPLM unity , short of which South Sudan  will disintegrate into sectarian groups,” said President Museveni.

The Special envoys called on the Uganda President in the last leg of a mission ordered by President Kikwete to brief leaders of countries neighbouring South Sudan on progress of the Arusha dialogue and reassure them that it would not undermine the peace process taking place in Addis Ababa under the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). They also solicited for assistance in conducting the talks.

Hon. Membe and Mr. Kinana earlier consulted Presidents Omar Al-Bashir in Khartoum and Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi, who declared their full support for the Arusha dialogue, which started last September at the request of South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

They also held talks with President Kiir in Juba, who pledged full commitment to the Arusha talks and  that he would implement the decisions to be agreed.

The regional leaders have condemned the killing of thousands of civilians and displacement of hundreds others in the civil war in South Sudan caused by a power struggle in SPLM. IGAD has given the warring parties ultimatum to cease fire or face sanctions.

Hon. Membe described their mission as highly successful. He said the IGAD process involved all the 10 parties to the conflict in South Sudan while the CCM-brokered dialogue concentrated on the differences among the three SPLM factions. 

The mission has allayed suspicion that the Arusha dialogue was competing with the IGAD process and won the support of regional leaders, who agree that reuniting the SPLM factions was a surer way to resolve the South Sudan crisis.

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