South Sudan president wants home-grown solutions
May 4, 2017 (JUBA) –South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Wednesday has voiced his rejection of external interventions to end the over three-year conflict and indicated his preference for a home-grown solution saying it remains the best approach.
“We have seen what international interventions can do. Wherever there was an international intervention, it leads to the dismantling of the central government and gives rise to sectarian strife, prolonged civilian unrest and the emergence of little enclaves controlled by extremists and similar groups. It is clear that international intervention is not always the correct choice,” said President Kiir.
He made these remarks during a meeting with high-ranking military officers just hours before convening a high-level leadership with members of the political bureau of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). The meeting was part of presidential initiatives and attempts to persuade military leaders to support the national dialogue process.
President Kiir cited previous experiences and lessons as a way of addressing internal conflict.
“We need to end this conflict by ourselves and the National Dialogue is one of the ways to do it, we have done it before. We negotiated with Anyanya in 1987 and again in 2002 with Riek and in 2003 with Lam. Nobody came and told us to sit down, so we can do it again but those who still believe in a military solution must denounce violence if they want people to listen to them,” said the President.
President Kiir was very reluctant before to sign the IGAD-brokered peace agreement in August 2015, citing ‘serious reservations’. At the time he objected to the power-sharing arrangement, which gives Machar more control over oil-producing states.
President Kiir went further to say that he wants the civilians of the country to be protected.
“During the operations, I want to protect the civilians because their protection is consistent with the effective, efficient, and decisive use of force in pursuit of their safety,” he added.
The President told the military leaders that the regional protection force was already in the country and should try to cooperate with them, saying there were coming to add-on to their efforts.
(ST)