South Sudan Rebels Want UN, African Union to Enforce Peace
- Machar says President Kiir still violating August peace deal
- New states will inflame tribal tensions, insurgent leader says
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South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar said he’s relying on the United Nations and African Union to enforce a peace deal he signed with President Salva Kiir, after accusing the leader of breaking the pact.
Interventions by the UN, AU and Intergovernmental Authority on Development, an East African bloc that helped mediate the August pact, could restore peace in the world’s newest country, Machar told reporters Tuesday in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Kiir’s plan to carve the nation into 28 states, from the current 10, risks fanning tribal tensions and would undermine a federal system wanted by the rebels, according to the former vice president. Both parties regularly blame one another for outbreaks of violence.