South Sudan peace talks stall over participation of seven officials
Article
Comments (0)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
April 1, 2014 (JUBA) - Peace talks end the 14-week-old conflict in
South Sudan, are stalled over the government's insistence on the
non-participation of seven officials from the governing Sudan People's
Liberation Movement (SPLM) who were arrested in connection to
allegation that they played a role in an alleged attempted failed
coup.
JPEG - 15.9 kb
Seyoum Mesfin (L), chairperson of IGAD meditors, and Taban Deng Gai
SPLM In Opposition chief negotiator attend the resumption of South
Sudan talks in Addis Ababa Feb 11, 2014 (Photo Reuters/Tiksa Negeri)
Hussein Maar Nyuot, the spokesperson for the rebel delegation said
talks have been suspended at the request of the mediation team, from
the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an East African
regional bloc,
The rebel SPLM/A in Opposition was ready to sign a general declaration
of the principles put forward by mediators but Juba has asked to go
for consultation with the heads of the state over some issues.
"They said they want to go for consultation with the heads of state
from IGAD member countries and they will give one month break, which
goes up to the 30th of April", said Nyuot
John Luk Jok, spokesperson of the seven SPLM officials said in a
statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Tuesday that the talks were
stalled because of the government's rejection of their participation
as signatories to the declaration of principles.
"The government delegation vigorously objected our inclusion as
signatory to the document and led to the non-signing of the
declaration of principles. This attitude of the government delegation
was indeed obstructive to the process and a blatant violation of the
IGAD Communiques" the statement said.
The heads of State and governments of the IGAD member countries
emphasised in a joint communiqué last month on the need for
participation of the former detainees.
They also reaffirme the need for an inclusive political dialogue,
while calling on the parties to include in the negotiations all South
Sudanese stakeholders particularly SPLM leaders (including detainees),
other political parties and representatives of civil society
organisations as deemed necessary by the mediation Process.
The regional block leaders on the other hand called to recognise the
former detainees as positive contributors to the peace process.
Jok, a former South Sudanese justice minister, said the government's
insistence on the non-inclusiveness of the process and their crafting
of a new declaration of principles and merging the agendas prepared by
IGAD for the political talks into one new single agenda has stopped
the process from moving forward.
"As a result of this unfortunate position of the government", Jok
said, "the future of the talks is now uncertain".
In Juba, deputy foreign affairs and international cooperation
minister, Peter Bashir Gbandi, said the government delegation was
simply expressing the general position of the leadership of the
country; reiterating talks should only be limited to the two parties
in engaged in active combat.
"The identity of this group is not known and until they come out to
tell the country who they are, the talks will remain between the
government and the rebels of Riek Machar. This was what the leadership
involving all the political forces in the country had agreed at the
consultative meeting. The letter was written and sent to the IGAD
chairperson by our chief negotiator," said Gbandi.
The regional bloc has reportedly given both sides a one-month period
for consultation.
The two South Sudanese factions signed a cessation of hostilities
agreement in January. Despite this deal, however, the two sides have
continued fighting each other.
Last year outbreak of violence in the new nation has seen more than a
million people displaced, the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest report.
"In the 100 days since the start of the conflict in South Sudan, over
one million people have fled their homes," OCHA said, adding that
about 255,000 have fled to neighboring countries.
The world body estimates that some 3.7 million South Sudanese are now
"severely food insecure," with reports that over 10,000 people have
been killed in the violence.
Last week, envoys from western nations urged all parties in the South
Sudanese conflict to engage constructively in the IGAD-led
negotiations.
(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/CAJb14ooudHvaskHRAMbDd9djoe%3DPe6CfMjG4U%2BfYq%2BEw1_UJvA%40mail.gmail.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
