The South Sudanese leader arrived on Sunday in Addis Ababa at around 4pm local time and was expected to go into serious face-to-face final negotiations with his rival and former vice president, Machar, in order to beat the Monday, 17 August deadline to seal the final deal and end the 20-month long civil war in the country.
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South Sudanese president, Salva Kiir is in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, for direct talks on a possible peace deal with rebel leader, Riek Machar, despite his government’s earlier utterances that he would not travel to the venue of the negotiations.
Amid intense worldwide pressure and a Monday deadline for an agreement, it remained unclear if Mr Kiir would still travel to Addis Ababa to meet with rebel chief Riek Machar, and diplomats on Friday said they still hoped leaders could strike a deal.
“We are still engaging in the peace efforts, that has not stopped”, presidential spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny told AFP, a day after government officials had said talks in Ethiopia would be suspended.
South Sudan was plunged into conflict in December 2013 when troops loyal to Kiir’s South Sudan army clashed with rebel fighters loyal to Machar.
The latest round of peace talks opened on August 6, mediated by the regional eight-nation bloc IGAD (the Intergovernmental Authority on Development), as well as the UN, African Union, China and the “troika” of Britain, Norway and the US.
Marked by widespread atrocities on both sides, the war has been characterised by ethnic massacres and rape.
Machar’s SPLM/A opponents say they are opposed to any peace deal that guarantees President Kiir’s continued hold on power.
“Don’t you think they’ve had the time to prepare and hide their money?”
Previous rounds of peace talks have cost millions of dollars in expenses, but failed to produce any lasting deals, with at least seven ceasefires being agreed then nearly immediately violated, sometimes within hours.
A South Sudanese government spokesman has professed its commitment to continue to engage rebels in peace talks for the end of the protracted conflict which began in 2013.
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Gatdet’s statement did not state a successor to Machar who is accused by his detractors in the movement of accepting to work with Salva Kiir as his Vice President in the Transitional Government of National Unity.
