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Juba/ AFP
South Sudan rebel chief Riek Machar eas expected to miss an international deadline on Saturday to return to the capital to take up the post of vice president, the government said, with his arrival now expected next week.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged Machar to return to Juba “without delay”, while the US, Britain and Norway—key international backers of peace efforts—demanded he return by Saturday.
Machar was due to return to the capital Juba on April 18 to take up the post of first vice president alongside his arch-rival President Salva Kiir. His failure to arrive has thrown an August 2015 peace agreement to end over two years of intense civil war into jeopardy.
But Minister of Information Michael Makuei said the government would only clear Machar’s plane to arrive from Ethiopia after international monitors have verified the number of weapons carried by the rebels accompanying him. “There is no coming today,” Makuei said.
The rebels, who were at Ethiopia’s Gambella airport, said they were ready to fly but needed permission to do so.
An AFP reporter at the airport said there was growing frustration among the rebel troops, who have now been there for several days, waiting to leave.
Under intense international pressure, the two sides reached agreement on Friday on the number of troops protecting Machar and the exact number of weapons they can carry. Machar can bring with him 195 men, carrying AK-47 assault rifles as well as 20 machine guns and 20 rocket-propelled grenades.
Rebel spokesman James Gadet said the weapons had already been checked by Ethiopian officials, and could also be verified upon their arrival in Juba.