US rejects extension of Kiir’s term of office, as world leaders react
July 10, 2015 (NEW YORK) – United States (US) government has rejected the move taken by president Salva Kiir’s government to “unilaterally” renew its regime’s mandate for three more years, saying only through a peace agreement that such a mandate could be renewed pending elections.
In a statement issued from Washington on Thursday on the independence day commemoration in South Sudan, which also coincided with president Kiir’s first day in office for an extended three years term of office by parliament, president Barack Obama’s national security advisor, Susan E Rice, said the extension was a wrong thing to do as the government “squandered its legitimacy.”
“Over the past 19 months, the government has abdicated its responsibilities, failed to protect its citizens, and squandered its legitimacy. Instead of negotiating a resolution to the conflict, it has subverted democracy and unilaterally extended its mandate,” Rice charged in the statement issued on Thursday.
“The South Sudanese parties must establish immediately a transitional government that can serve with legitimacy and represent the needs of the people of South Sudan,” she said.
The US top security advisor said as the violence dragged on, the conflict not only scared the lives of innocent South Sudanese, “it threatens to destabilize the wider region.”
South Sudan has been in turmoil since fighting broke out between forces loyal to Kiir and the armed opposition, despite the peace talks mediated by East African regional leaders.
The conflict, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said, has displaced more than 1.5 million South Sudanese internally and forced over 700,000 into neighboring countries.
KIIR AND MACHAR BOTH ACCOUNTABLE
Rice accused both warring parties of continuing the war despite its efforts with regional partners to end the conflict through a negotiated political settlement.
“Massive and widespread violence has returned. Human rights abuses are rampant. The Government and rebels are committing appalling crimes against innocent women, children, and the elderly,” she said.
“President Kiir and Riek Machar and their cronies are personally responsible for this new war and self-inflicted disaster. And only leaders on both sides can end this violence,” she stressed.
Rice who was part of a small group of activists that lobbied the American administration to support the independence of the South Sudan vowed that the US will not abandon the people of South Sudan.
“We will continue to stand with all those who dream of a better tomorrow. The United States will continue to work hard to help you to achieve lasting peace and justice.”
She pointed that the US administration will work with the international community, will punish those determined to drive South Sudan into ‘the abyss’.
Meanwhile, United Kingdom (UK) said it was unfortunate that South Sudan focused on extending leaders tenure in office while 2.2 million people were displaced by fighting and 4.6 million others were at risk of life-threatening hunger.
Speaking on the 4th anniversary of South Sudan’s independence, UK’s minister for Africa, James Duddridge, who fell short of describing the extended government in Juba as illegitimate, however said the only purpose for the extended tenure of the government would be to sign peace immediately.
He accused leaders of South Sudan of looting the wealth of the nation at the expense of the dying and suffering citizens in the country.
“It is appalling that the country’s leaders have continually failed to meet the hopes and aspirations of their people while squandering the country’s oil wealth on a senseless war,” said the UK minister for Africa in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune.
“The South Sudanese parliament’s decision to temporarily extend the government takes effect today. This must be used for one purpose: to secure a peace deal immediately and form a transitional government of national unity,” he said.
He said with other Troika partners (the US and Norway) and European Union (EU) partners the UK stood steadfast in its support to the people of South Sudan for the long term and urged all sides to the conflict to finally put the people first and demonstrate the leadership necessary to forge a lasting peace.
EU in a Thursday’s separate joint statement on South Sudan by the high representative/vice-president, Federica Mogherini, commissioner for international cooperation and development, Neven Mimica, and commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management, Christos Stylianides, said hopes had been shattered in the region after four years of independence.
“Four years ago, leaders from around the world gathered in Juba to celebrate the birth of an independent South Sudan. The peoples’ hopes then were for a new, bright future. These hopes have been shattered; twenty months of bloody civil conflict since December 2013 has brought terrible suffering and an ever increasing level of brutality targeted at civilians and children,” the statement partly reads.
It said the perpetrators of such human rights abuses must not be allowed to act with impunity and urged the African Union (AU) to publish the report on such atrocities.
“It is essential they are held to account, and the African Union (AU) Commission of Inquiry report into the original causes of the current conflict should be published,” EU statement says.
It called on the warring parties to engage in “genuine peace negotiations” as the only way forward, saying this needed to be revitalised “swiftly.”
(ST)