South Sudanese president directs frank consultations with rebels
June 9, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudanese president Salva Kiir has directed government representatives at the preparatory consultative meeting with armed opposition representatives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to engage in frank discussions to remove obstacles when the next round of peace talks resume.
The joint consultations were meant to set an agenda for the next round of talks as well as fix a date for the resumption of negotiations.
President Kiir, according to the lead negotiator of the government, Nhial Deng Nhial, has expressed commitment to bring peace to the country and urged opposition leadership and the other stakeholders invited by IGAD to the consultation to realise that it was time for people to unite instead of pulling down the country for “self-serving purposes.”
“The president has given us a go ahead to engage the SPLM-IO and the other stakeholders in frank and honest consultations so that we set the agenda of negotiations”, Nhial told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday.
Nhial said consultations have started and hoped to come out with the consensus on the way forward.
South Sudanese armed opposition leader’s spokesman, James Gatdet Dak, also said the rebel leadership was always committed to the peace process and hoped the government would this time realise that military solution was “too unrealistic” to be achieved, adding it was therefore time to resort to serious and frank negotiations on critical issues.
“We are always serious and clear about issues that the country should tackle in order to achieve good governance and sustainable peace and development,” Dak told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday.
“Our chairman and commander-in-chief, Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, has already left his headquarters in South Sudan and moved to the venue in Addis Ababa in show of the serious commitment to the peace process,” he said.
He however expressed doubt over government’s seriousness to negotiate in good faith, saying it was executing “full scale offensive” on positions held by the rebels in violation of the cessation of hostilities agreement the two sides signed since 23 January 2014.
Dak also challenged IGAD to ensure its mediated ceasefire agreement was implemented by reigning on Uganda to withdraw from South Sudan its troops per the agreement. Uganda, he said, is an IGAD member state which forces have directly interfered and taken side in the war by supporting president Kiir’s government.
Ugandan troops have been deployed in Central Equatoria and Jonglei states to help defend the national capital, Juba and Jonglei state’s capital, Bor, while allegedly providing air cover for government troops in other states in the country.
Rebels said this was affecting the implementation of the cessation of hostilities agreement and encouraging the government to continue with the war.
Talks collapsed on 6 March when the two factional principal leaders could not agree on almost all the outstanding issues on governance, security arrangements, leadership structure, power sharing, reforms and accountability and reconciliation.
IGAD has been developing a new mediation mechanism that will include representatives of member states of the African Union (AU), Troika countries (United States, United Kingdom and Norway), China, European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN).
A date for resumption of the next round of talks is expected to be announced after concluding the ongoing consultations in Addis Ababa.
(ST)