South Sudan president holds reconciliation talks with Garang’s widow
November 17, 2014 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, has held reconciliation and unity talks with a group former political detainees in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, one week ahead of the resumption of peace talks in Ethiopia.
A former long-serving adviser to the president on human rights and gender affairs, de Mabior as sacked on Kiir’s orders last August.
The talks were organised by Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, who urged the two sides to renew their commitment to ending the country’s more than 11-month-long conflict or risk being “trouble makers” in the region.
A presidential aide told Sudan Tribune on Monday that talks focused on internal reconciliation and unification within the SPLM, with Yoweri calling on the rival delegations to put their differences aside and work towards restoring peace.
“The president of Uganda was very clear. He urged the two groups to give peace a chance and end the conflict,” the aide said.
“He (Museveni) was very concerned by the suffering of our people and the level of destruction the conflict had caused the conflict and the region,” he said.
It is not clear why the armed rebel faction under former vice-president Riek Machar was not invited to take part in the Kampala initiative.
The South Sudanese government and rebel forces have been engaged in an armed struggle since a political dispute within the ruling SPLM turned violent in mid-December last year.
Machar’s rebel faction and former political detainees hold Kiir responsible for instigating the violence to suppress discussion on political reforms.
Akol Pauldit, head of the ruling SPLM faction’s youth wing and a member of its political bureau, was one of the government and party officials who accompanied president Kiir to Uganda.
He told reporters on arrival at Juba international airport on Monday that the two groups had exchanged views on the ongoing peace talks and how to expedite the reconciliation process.
According to Pauldit, a number of highly contentious issues still need to be discussed outside the formal negotiation process, saying this would help expedite consensus in reaching a final settlement to the conflict in upcoming peace talks next week.
“We exchanged useful views on internal reconciliation and unity of the SPLM. President Salva Kiir Mayardit led our delegation in his capacity as the chairperson of the SPLM to this important meeting organized by the president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni”, Akol told reporters.
He said Museveni called the meeting to urge both parties to commit to an immediate end the conflict.
However, the official did not offer an explanation for the absence of members of the armed opposition, conceding that the Ugandan president was compelled to call the meeting as a deadline set by mediators from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) for the warring parties to reach a peace deal is set to expire later this week.
The government and opposition forces have repeatedly violated previously signed cessation of hostilities agreements.
(ST)