South Sudan drops preconditions ahead of peace talks with rebels
Article
Comments (0)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
March 24, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) - The South Sudanese government has
dropped its demand that a grouping of seven politicians who were
arrested at the start of the current conflict be barred from
participating in peace talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
JPEG - 12.6 kb
The South Sudan government's chief negotiator, Nhial Deng Nhial,
speaks during the resumption of peace talks in the Ethiopian capital,
Addis Ababa, on 11 February 2014 (Photo: Reuters/Tiksa Negeri)
On Thursday - one day before the scheduled resumption of the next
round of talks - South Sudan's ruling SPLM demanded that the East
African regional bloc IGAD, who are mediating the talks, limit
negotiations to the two warring factions: the SPLM and the South
Sudanese army (SPLA); and the rebels - known as the SPLM/A in
Opposition, which was formed in December from army defectors and
disaffected politicians.
The government accuses former vice-president turned rebel leader Riek
Machar of attempting to oust president Salva Kiir in a coup, although
the allegations have been repeatedly denied by all the accused.
The government had threatened to boycott the talks over the
participation of the seven senior political figures who after their
release decided to form a third bloc rather than join Machar, despite
having similar political grievances. However, it has since backed down
after IGAD - the Intergovernmental Authority on Development - rejected
its demands.
The trial of four senior SPLM officials still on detention has begun
in Juba. They have been charged with treason and plotting to overthrow
the government.
The group of seven, who are joined by Rebecca Nyandeng, the widow of
SPLM founder and the party's former chairman John Garang, will now be
allowed to participate as a third bloc as they did in the previous
round of talks, which produced a tenuous ceasefire deal.
Attempts to involve South Sudanese civil society in the talks have not
been welcomed by either side despite analysts warning that a
successful deal will need to reflect more than just the military
realities in Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile - the states where most of
the fighting has taken place.
No official timetable has been set for the resumption of negotiations,
but they are expected resume before the end of the week.
Sudan Tribune understands that the South Sudanese government's
negotiating team arrived in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on
Sunday without Juba's chief negotiator, former foreign minister Nihal
Deng Nihal, who was expected to arrive on Monday evening.
The seven SPLM leaders who were jailed in connection to the alleged
coup attempt on 15 December last year were released under the initial
peace pact signed in Addis Ababa on 23 January.
The ceasefire deal has failed to halt fighting on the ground, with
both sides accusing each other of violating the terms of the
agreement.
UN officials have warned that if the planting season is missed, due to
the insecurity and displacement before the rainy seasons begin, South
Sudan could experience famine levels of malnutrition.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has said Ethiopia may host up to 150,000
South Sudanese refugees, although the Ethiopian Administration for
Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA) says that that figure could
increase to as many as 300,000 due to the high levels of food
insecurity in South Sudan.
An estimated 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict. The split
in South Sudan's ruling party and army has reopened old wounds from
the more than two-decades-long civil war that lead to the 2005 peace
agreement which resulted in South Sudan's secession from Sudan in
2011.
(ST)
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"South Sudan Info - The Kob" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14oqv7b2%3DSh5ompYhEjghkhUNCTivrJD_kd0PeRyZP%3DPLYw%40mail.gmail.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
