East African leaders gathered in the Ethiopian capital on Saturday in a last-ditch effort to convince South Sudan’s warring sides to sign a peace deal, ramping up pressure before a Monday deadline to end a 20-month civil war.
Advertisement
‘We suspend the peace talks until the two rebel factions sort out their differences, ‘ top government official Louis Lobong said on Friday, after meetings with President Salva Kiir.
“Everything is on the table: arms embargo, sanctions targeting not only the military but also the political level, and an intervention force”, one diplomat in Addis Ababa said.
An announcement by rebel generals on Tuesday that they had split with Machar has confused the situation amid the latest round of peace talks, and led to Kiir’s initial decision not to attend the talks.
Discussing the reported split, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Adis Ababa, said: “We spoke to a rebel spokesperson here and he says the South Sudanese government is just using this as a pretext to delay the signing of this deal and that Machar is the only man that Kiir can speak to in terms of pushing these negotiations forward”.
Sources close to the talks attributed the last minute change of mind by president to travel to Addis Ababa to the demand by the regional and global mediators of IGAD-Plus that the South Sudanese head of state must show up to face the rebel leader and resolve contentious issues stalling the peace process.
“There is hope, as long as all of us want peace”, Lomuro said, after reporters asked if a deal would be signed on Monday.
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.
Marked by widespread atrocities on both sides, the war has been characterised by ethnic massacres and rape.
Before leaving the South Sudanese capital, Juba, Kiir warned, however, that it would not be possible to sign a lasting deal unless all opposition factions were included.
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.
Advertisement
“A peace that can not be sustained can not be signed”, Kiir said, but added that he felt “compelled” to join the talks.
