Addis Ababa - South Sudan's rebel leader
Riek Machar arrived in Ethiopia on Wednesday for a meeting with
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, as part of talks to try to
negotiate an end to a five-year-old civil war, a rebel spokesman
and an Ethiopian official said.
“Yes, I can confirm to you that our chairman has arrived in
Addis Ababa airport this morning," rebel spokesman Lam Paul
Gabriel said, referring to Machar, who had been held under house
arrest in South Africa since late 2016 after fleeing South
Sudan.
An Ethiopian government official also confirmed Machar's
arrival and said he would meet Ethiopia's prime minister, Abiy
Ahmed, before his talks with Kiir.
"Riek Machar has arrived," Foreign Ministry spokesman Meles
Alem said.
Kiir and Machar are due to meet later on Wednesday. It will
be the first between the two since a peace deal between the
government and Machar's rebel group fell apart in August 2016.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the civil
war that broke out in late 2013 when troops loyal to Machar, the
former vice president of South Sudan, launched a rebellion
against the government.
All sides in the now complex and multi-faceted war stand
accused by the United Nations and other bodies of committing
atrocities against civilians.