But spokesman Michael Makuei said Saturday that the government was “committed to peace” and that “the government delegation is available in Addis and it will continue with the negotiations up to the end”.
Advertisement
South Sudan’s government says it is pulling out of peace talks to end a 20-month long civil war after rebel forces split despite global threats of sanctions.
The government and rebels are under intense global pressure to resolve the conflict before an August 17 deadline or face possible sanctions, including arms embargoes, asset freezes and travel bans.
The lead government negotiator at the talks, Nhial Deng Nhial, gave a different explanation for why Mr. Kiir would not travel to Addis Ababa as expected on Friday.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in 20 months of war, which has been marked by widespread atrocities on both sides.
South Sudan’s civil war began in December 2013 when Kiir accused his former deputy Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that has split the poverty-stricken, landlocked country along ethnic lines.
Regional mediators, backed by US President Barack Obama during his recent visit to Ethiopia, had given Mr Kiir and Mr Machar until August 17 to halt the civil war.
The talks had been thrown into disarray earlier in the week when a South Sudanese rebel leader said he and other commanders had split from their leader Riek Machar, accusing him of mismanagement and failing to unite the rebel movement.
The government is seeking guidance from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a regional body representing East African nations, on which of the groups to negotiate with, Elia Lomuro, minister in charge of cabinet affairs, told reporters on Friday in the capital, Juba. Recent attacks have included castration, burning people alive and tying children together before slitting their throats.
Makue went on to describe the appointment of foreign nationals to the chairmanship of a Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Committee on South Sudan and National Election Commission as “a new form of colonialism”.
Advertisement
In an interview with South Sudan in Focus, one of the generals who formed the splinter group, Gathoth Gatkuoth, condemned both Machar and Kiir, saying they are taking part in peace talks in Addis Ababa not for the good of the South Sudanese people but because they want to secure their positions in a future government.
