As South Sudan’s president was due to sign a peace pact on Wednesday, his transport minister was in South Africa to sign a deal he hopes will be part of a new inflow of infrastructure investment needed to develop the world’s youngest country.
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The deal, which has already been signed by the rebels, is expected to bring an immediate end to fighting, with Machar reinstated as vice president.
It was rivalry between Kiir and Machar within the ruling Sudanese Peoples’ Liberation Movement in 2013 that split the party, fractured the government and the army, and led to civil war and ethnic killings in December of that year. The peace deal follows months of negotiations hosted by Ethiopia and a number of broken ceasefires. The fighting has increasingly run along ethnic lines.
Mediation officials and diplomats previously indicated Kiir’s concerns included proposals for Juba to be a demilitarised zone and a demand he consult his first vice president on decisions. The commission will be empowered to enforce the deal, as well as push for more government accountability and transparency in its handling of oil revenue, the country’s only real source of income.
A report by the United Nations earlier this week described how both sides had managed to supply themselves with arms and ammunition, “leading to large-scale violations of global humanitarian law”.
Among their concerns, Kiir and other members of the government have serious doubts about the deal’s commitment to demilitarize Juba and the powers it grants rebels to appoint two state governors.
Briefing the UN Security Council, Ellen Margrethe Løj, head of the UN Mission in the South Sudan said the cessation of hostilities agreed to in Addis Ababa and a ceasefire had not been observed.
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“The scope and level of cruelty that has characterised the attacks against civilians suggests a depth of antipathy that goes beyond political differences”, he said. More than 1.6 million people have been displaced. The process appeared to be derailed last week, when Kiir missed the first deadline, prompting national security adviser Susan E. Rice to say, “The U.S. deplores this failure of leadership”.
