South Sudan accuses chief mediator of “dictating” negotiations
August 15, 2015 (JUBA) –The South Sudanese government has accused the chief mediator in its ongoing talks, Seyous Mesfin of dictating terms ahead the deadline set for a final peace deal to end the 20-months old conflict in the world’s youngest nation.
“If you move away from mediation and become a dictator, then you are not a mediator,” he said.
“We have attended so many mediations and they have not been that way. Peace talks is not an event but a processes and if it is a processes then there is no way of setting a deadline,” the minister told the state-owned SSTV.
The chief mediator was quoted Thursday saying that negotiators from the government and the rebels would not leave Ethiopia without reaching a peace deal by 17 August.
President Salva Kiir was due to meet rebel leader in the Ethiopian, but did not travel to the venue of the talks. The government announced Friday that the South Sudanese leader would skip the meeting ahead of a briefing from its lead negotiator, Nhial Deng Nhial.
The mediators, according to the South Sudanese information minister, were going off track by not allowing the country’s two main warring parties to negotiate a peace deal.
“What can be done is to know areas of differences and bridge them, not to add what you think. South Sudan is a sovereign nation and member state of regional and international organisations. The language of threat made by mediator is actually undermining the IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development] as an organisation,” he added.
Meanwhile, president Kiir has summoned another emergency meeting of ministers and the 10 state governors, SSTV announced. It is not clear what the agenda for Sunday’s meeting will be amid speculations of the president’s planned trip to the Ethiopian capital.
UK MINISTER WARNS
The United Kingdom (UK) Minister for Africa, Grant Shapps issued a statement reminding the South Sudanese warring factions of the thousands killed and millions displaced. He urged the country’s leaders to reach a peace agreement by the 17 August deadline.
“If this opportunity is not seized by South Sudan’s government and opposition we would need to consider other options, including the African Union’s earlier call for targeted sanctions and a UN arms embargo,” partly reads the statement issued on Sunday.
“South Sudan’s leaders must make the necessary compromises to reach agreement, end the fighting and move their country forward”, it added.
(ST)