Mesfin said IGAD had set Monday as a deadline after which the warring parties would face global sanctions if they failed to strike a deal.
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Seyoum Mesfin, the mediator for IGAD, the East African bloc leading the talks, said Kiir’s side required two weeks before signing the peace deal that was accepted by the South Sudanese rebels. “If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english”>back to war, then what have we achieved?”
“Even in a best-case scenario, peace will never come from Addis Ababa”, said David Deng, research director of the South Sudan Law Society, a civil society organization.
Machar signed the agreement in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, rebel spokesman Mabior Garang said in a text message.
South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar, center, greets unidentified participants after lengthy peace negotiations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Monday, August 17, 2015.
The government had also recalled its chief negotiator from the talks in neighboring Ethiopia to “brief the government and stakeholders on where they have reached so far in the talks”, he said.
The proposal designates a 30-month transition period with Kiir as president, with a first vice president post allocated to the rebels, IGAD said.
South Sudan’s civil war erupted in December 2013, just months after President Kiir fired Machar as vice president.
The fighting has had dire humanitarian consequences, with parts of the country on the brink of starvation, according to humanitarian agencies; 70% of the population is in need of humanitarian aid, and more than 2 million people have been displaced.
However, the revised version in Kampala removed the clause which provides for a power sharing ratio if three states of the oil-rich greater Upper Nile region which gives the rebel faction 53%, government, 33% and former detainees plus political parties, 14%.
At least seven ceasefires have already been agreed and then shattered within days, if not hours in Africa’s newest country, which broke away from Sudan in 2011.
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Recent attacks have included castration, burning people alive and tying children together before slitting their throats.
