Riek Machar expected to return to South Sudan 'soon'

A spokesperson for rebel forces has confirmed to The New Arab that South Sudan's rebel leader is preparing for his return.

MENA

2 min read

Robert Cusack

25 November, 2016

Former Vice President Riek Machar speaking to journalists in Addis Ababa in 2015 [Anadolu]

Riek Machar, the leader of South Sudan’s rebel forces, is expected to return to the South Sudanese region in the coming weeks.

A spokesperson for the South Sudanese rebel forces told The New Arab that Dr Machar had travelled to South Africa on an official visa in order to receive medical treatment, which was now completed.

"We are preparing for Dr Machar’s arrival in the coming weeks," William Gatjiath Deng, a spokesperson for rebel forces, told The New Arab.

"He went there for official treatments, but now he has completed those treatments and is planning his return."

"Many people say that has been detained in South Africa, but this is not true."

Machar fled South Sudan in July following heavy fighting in the region. A spokesperson for the rebel forces later announced that this had been in order to receive "immediate medical treatment" in a Khartoum hospital related to a swollen leg.

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Machar, the former Vice President of South Sudan, later flew to South Africa on 12 October, allegedly in order to receive new treatment for his leg. He told The New Arab at the time that there was no other reason for his flight.

Defence Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk told reporters earlier this month that Machar could be allowed to return to South Sudan with a pardon, if he first renounced his fight against the government.

The on-going civil war in the world's newest country has killed thousands of civilians and wreaked havoc on the local economy.

A press release from the national Statistics Ministry today announced that inflation rates had increased by 835.7 percent between October 2015 and October 2016.