IGAD chief pledges to continue efforts to end S. Sudan conflict
March 6, 2015 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopian prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn has vowed to keep up regional and international efforts to end the more than 14-month-long conflict in South Sudan after the failure of the rival leaders to reach as agreement on Friday.
In a two page letter addressed to the South Sudanese people Desalegan who is also the head the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) regretted the failure of the two leaders to strike a peace deal.
“This is unacceptable, both morally and politically” he said. “We remain hopeful that the promise of peace will be fulfilled in the near future,” he added.
The Ethiopian premier underscored that South Sudanese president Salva Kiir and the leader of the SPLM-in-Opposition Riek Machar agreed to form a transitional government next July, and declared that the they will work to bring them to honour this commitment.
“To achieve that goal, IGAD, joined by the friends of South Sudan from Africa and abroad, intends to implement a common plan and table a reasonable and comprehensive solution to end the crisis in South Sudan,” he said.
The opposition faction of the SPLM accused the government of president Kiir of refusing to discuss a number of constitutional reforms they consider as vital. Also, they say the power sharing should touch the local and national levels across the country.
The IGAD chair called on the international community to speak with one voice on South Sudan and vowed to assist the conflict parties to reach needed compromises
“We will use all influence at our disposal to convince those that remain intransigent. And we will ensure that the voices of the silent majority of South Sudanese prevail: peace, reform and justice,” he said.
Since last year the IGAD evoked they may ask the U.N Security Council to impose sanction on the peace spoilers.
This week, the Security Council unanimously adopted a sanctions regime and called on the negotiating parties to meet the deadline for the signing of a peace agreement.
“We are enhancing IGAD’s leverage in the negotiations by sending a very clear signal to those who continue to choose war over peace,” said US ambassador to the United Nations who drafted the resolution.
According to Reuters which obtained a copy of the unpublished report, an independent African Union commission of inquiry on the South Sudan conflict recommended to bar Kiir and Machar from participating in the transitional government.
The five member commission further called for “an AU-appointed and U.N.-backed three-person panel to oversee a five-year transition and the creation of a transitional executive that would place all oil revenue in an escrow account overseen by the African Development Bank” Reuters said .
The army also should under AU command and the overall charge of the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.
Chaired by the former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo the inquiry body had to investigate human right abuses and violations in South Sudan and make recommendations on the best ways to ensure accountability, reconciliation and healing.
UN WARNS AGAINST ESCALATION OF VIOLENCE
The United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon expresses his “profound disappointment” for the failure of the warring parties to reach a peace agreement
Ban ” strongly urges both parties to refrain from any attempt to escalate the conflict and reiterates that there can be no military solution or alternative to a negotiated settlement,” said a statement attributable to the spokesman of the UN chief on Friday.
He further recalled the recent UN resolution 2206 (2015), and the Security Council’s intention to impose targeted sanctions on individuals and entities who fail to abide by the cessation of hostilities agreement of 23 January 2014.
(ST)