South Sudan truce talks fail ahead of unity govt formation
NAIROBI, July 4 (AFP) — Talks aimed at forging a ceasefire between ex-rebels and Khartoum-backed militias in southern Sudan have failed ahead of this week’s scheduled formation of a north-south unity government, officials said Monday.
The collapse of the weekend talks is likely to cast a pall over Saturday’s ceremonial installation of a unity government in Khartoum under a January peace deal which will see John Garang, leader of the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), sworn in as vice president.
However, while unable to reach an agreement, Garang and the southern Sudan militia chiefs did agree to continue with talks which are being mediated by retired Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi, the officials said.
The weekend meeting in the Kenyan capital had been aimed at convincing the militias to halt attacks, mostly in Sudan’s Upper Nile region, and bring them into the peace pact signed between the SPLM/A and Khartoum in January in Nairobi.
“The meeting ended well on Sunday, but without key agreements,” a senior SPLM/A official told AFP. “The only thing that was agreed was to continue these talks inside the Sudan.”
No date was set for the resumption of the discussions, according to that official and two others who participated in the Nairobi meetings.
Sudan watchers have warned that the absence of the militias from the deal could hamper its effective implementation and the stabilization of war-torn southern Sudan.
After the failure of the weekend talks it was not clear Monday how committed the SPLM/A is to the July 9 date for the launching of the new government.
Initially, the ex-rebels, who fought a 21-year war against Khartoum, were reluctant to embrace that timetable, fearing that the militias, which have been supported by the Sudanese government, would carry on fighting and undermine the peace deal.
The militias are blamed for abducting hundreds of civilians and imposing illegal taxes in Sudan’s oil-rich Upper Nile region, even after the January 9 SPLM/A-Khartoum peace deal.
Under that accord, all militia groups in southern Sudan were to have been incorporated into the agreement before July 9 but most have refused, arguing it does not provide them enough protection or influence in the autonomous government the south will have for a six-year period.
Officials in Kenya said the Sudan foes wanted to avoid a hastily-agreed deal that would be opposed by field militia commanders, a scenario common in Sudan.
Since its creation in 1983, the SPLM/A has been wracked by incessant internal power struggles which have divided the movement, giving rise to several militia groups, who have opposed Garang’s style of leadership.
At the Nairobi talks, complaints about the US-educated rebel leader surfaced again with one militia group, the Southern Sudan Defense Forces (SSDF), accusing Garang of having a “continous violent attitude” that undermined efforts to reconcile the various factions in the south.
“The continuous violent attitude of the SPLM under the leadership of Dr John Garang has produced permament distrust among the people of southern Sudan,” the SSDF said in a statement.
The January peace deal and power-sharing formula it foresees are hoped to be templates for resolving other conflicts in Sudan, particularly the ongoing crisis in the troubled western region of Darfur where minority groups have complained of the same kind of marginalization at the hands of Khartoum as the SPLM/A had.
Within the past month, fighting has flared in eastern Sudan, where rebel groups with the same concerns have launched their first offensive against government positions, sparking international concern.