President Kenyatta made the statement on Tuesday upon his return back to Kenya after attending an IGAD meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to find peace in South Sudan.
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However, we are deeply disappointed that the Government of South Sudan under President Kiir yet again squandered the opportunity to bring peace to their people by refusing to sign the agreement.
The United States and Britain on Tuesday pushed for UN sanctions against the government.
But, representatives of rebel leader Machar expressed disappointment about the refusal of President Kiir to sign the document, which was aimed to end the conflict.
With fresh reports of aggression between the country’s warring factions, it remains unclear if Kiir will ever sign the deal, which includes provisions on how to share power with Machar and also calls for a demilitarized capital.
The secretary-general of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, Pagan Amum, also signed the deal, but mediators said he was not representing the government.
The details of the agreement are as of yet unclear, but the latest accord inked by the mediating Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, includes a proposal for a national unity government with power quotas for both sides.
Juba: South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and arch-rival Riek Machar, his sacked vice-president, have spent the past 20 months locked in combat.
The United States has threatened sanctions if no deal is reached, adding to the pressure by announcing it was consulting with other countries on imposing United Nations sanctions on anyone who undermined the peace process.
South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan in 2011 after a protracted civil war but was plunged into chaos in 2013 when a political row between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Reik Machar spiralled into armed conflict.
AU chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has warned the failure to strike an agreement “will have far-reaching consequences for South Sudan, the region and the continent as a whole”.
Nearly 70% of the country’s population is facing food shortages while nearly 200,000 terrified civilians are sheltering in UN bases.
Aid agencies on Tuesday pleaded for a ceasefire to end the “unimaginable destruction”, in a joint statement from Oxfam, CARE and the international Rescue Committee (IRC).
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Recent attacks have included castration, burning people alive and tying children together before slitting their throats. “I can only pray we will make it to five”.
