Dr Riek Machar will return to Juba next week to take up his position as the First Vice President, the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission has said.

His return is also expected to speed up the formation of the government of national unity.

This comes after the return to Juba of more than half of the opposition forces required before Dr Riek comes to the capital.

According to UNMISS, 802 security personnel have been flown to Juba so far, 22 of them are police, and 780 are soldiers.

The rest of the forces are expected in Juba by the end of this week.

“We are expecting the First Vice President Designate to come back because we need to have a Transitional Government of National Unity put in place to tackle all the issues that are plaguing the country as we talking,” said Ariane Quentier, UNMISS Spokesperson.

However, the SPLM in Opposition says the return of Dr Machar may be delayed until the 15th of this month.

“Till now we cannot confirm this if Dr. Riek is coming in that date, because our chairman has commitments on the 9^th; he will talk to the South Sudanese community in Ethiopia and on the 12^th, 13^th he will have a conference with organizations in Pagak,” said Sebit Magok, spokesperson of the advance team in Juba.