“The Ugandan government knows how strenuous it is to achieve peace between belligerents, especially when the belligerents have big egos and when those belligerents put their personal egos above national interests”, said Ugandan government spokesman Shaban Bantariza.
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South Sudan President Salva Kiir has won a 15-day reprieve from global sanctions despite refusing to sign a peace deal, but ending the famine-threatened country’s civil war could still be far off, experts warn.
Separately, a South Sudanese government official confirmed that there was no peace deal saying, “There is no agreement yet in the IGAD-PLUS peace talks”.
“Should we see the glass half-empty or half-full?” a diplomat at the talks said, but adding, that in their opinion, Kiir was left with “no choice” but to sign.
Rebel leader Riek Machar said he was surprised by Kiir’s decision.
Washington, which helped mediate the talks, expressed regret the president had not signed and urged him to do so.
Numerous rounds of negotiations have failed to end hostilities that have killed more than 10,000 people.
The refusal of President Salva Kiir to sign a peace proposal at a highly anticipated signing ceremony in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa on Monday prompted condemnation from his opponents and raised questions about why he rejected the proposal and what would happen next.
The government has “certain reservations” and will return after consultations, Mesfin said.
He said the agreement also provides for the creation of a “hybrid court” to ensure accountability for crimes committed during the 20-month long civil war.
“It is a sellout, and we will not accept it”, Makuei said, adding the government would now discuss the deal with the people for 15 days.
At least seven ceasefires have already been agreed and then broken within days, if not hours in Africa’s newest country, which broke away from Sudan in 2011. “The “land grab” confirmed in the nighttime scene with the tribal leader has occurred frequently, in Sudan and elsewhere, said Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the think tank Oakland Institute, which has studied such issues”.
The conflict between the government and rebels erupted in December 2013 after Kiir accused Machar, his sacked deputy, of plotting a coup.
Marked by widespread atrocities on both sides, the war has been characterised by ethnic massacres and rape.
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The United Nations (UN) says some 2.2 million people have fled their homes due to the fighting, while over 70 percent of the country’s 12 million people are in need of relief aid.
