The government has agreed that the Chief of General Staff for the SPLM in Opposition forces will come to Juba with 195 soldiers, to be followed by Dr Riek Machar, an official has said.

Dr Machar failed over the last 2 days to come to Juba to take up his position as the First Vice President due to a disagreement over more soldiers to come with him.

The Minister of Information, Michael Makuei, said his government acted in honor of the calls made by the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission to be flexible and compromise.

On Tuesday, JMEC appealed to the parties to the peace agreement to demonstrate the ‘utmost flexibility and spirit of compromise’ to ensure the deal is implemented.

“The plane carrying Riek Machar with his personnel, with his support staff, who are not armed, can come to Juba at any time if he feels like doing so,” Mr Makuei said.

However, he said the guards of the Chief of General Staff of the SPLM-IO, Gen Gatwech Dual, can carry light weapons.

“These soldiers will come in with their personal rifles – no extra weapons, no any other extra personnel.”