Kenya’s president urged South Sudan’s government to restore peace in the oil-producing country, where resurgent violence killed hundreds of people in the capital in July and threatened a return to all-out civil war.
“We are here to ask the government to push along the peace agreement and the reforms that were agreed to,” President Uhuru Kenyatta told reporters Tuesday after meeting his South Sudanese counterpart, Salva Kiir, in the capital, Juba. Kenya is also offering “moral and material” support to ensure the return of stability, he said.
Conflict that broke out in Africa’s newest country in December 2013 has claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced 2 million to flee their homes. A transitional government formed in April that sought to end the conflict was roiled last month when violence flared in Juba and former rebel leader Riek Machar and his fighters were driven from the city. Machar, now in neighboring Sudan, has been replaced as Kiir’s vice president.
“I am glad to have seen for myself that after the unfortunate incident that took place a few weeks ago, the government is working in harmony,” Kenyatta said.
