South Sudan president says opposition rift prevents peace

November 29, 2017 (JUBA ) – South Sudan president Salva Kiir has attributed in discussions with regional leaders that the division of armed and non-armed opposition groups was behind the failure of a sustainable ceasefire in the country.

President Kiir, who held talks with the regional leaders including the President of Botswana, Ian Khama, said the government was doing the best to end the four-year conflict but was finding it difficult as the opposition was becoming more and more divided and it became too difficult to know their objectives.

“Even Riek Machar, he is also facing the problem. Now he is fighting Thomas Cirilo, Lam Akol and anybody who does not agree with him. This is the nature of his politics. He went and split with Lam Akol in 1991 when they left the movement. They went and started fighting and Lam Akol went and formed his own faction. The same thing is happening now. They are fighting again. So you really don’t know what they want. And people are asking, how will they lead the country if they cannot lead their own factions, which are very small, and mainly from one ethnic group who speaks the same language,” President Kiir explained to Botswana President on Tuesday.

The South Sudanese leader further said the coalition government that he chairs had accepted in principle to participate in the revitalization forum without conditions because it wants the war to stop.

“Because the conflict started in the SPLM, we decided to talk to all the groups who were previously members of the SPLM leadership, including him (Riek Machar),” he added.

“President Museveni responded positively to my request and started facilitating talks looking at how best we could implement the Arusha reunification agreement but Riek failed to attend. I went myself to Kampala and participated in the talks but he did not go. The meeting was postponed many times to give him the opportunity to come or send some of his people to represent him,” stressed President Kiir.

Kiir said the reunification of the party was one of the initiatives undertaken to end the conflict.

“Apart from the reunification of the party, there is also a national dialogue and the revitalization. All these are initiatives we have undertaken to end the war but our brothers are still unresponsive and continue to advocate for war. This is the situation but we shall overcome it,” explained Kiir.

Machar agreed last month to take part in the revitalization process. Also when he was invited by President Museveni to take part in Kampala process he asked to end his confinement in South Africa, a matter that the IGAD which brokers the South Sudan process rejects.

The revitalization forum is expected to begin before the end of December 2017. It is not clear if the SPLM-IO leader will be allowed to join the meeting and under which condition.

(ST)