South Sudan internal peace dialogue makes no progress
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January 31, 2016 (JUBA) – Talks between President Salva Kiir’s
government and senior members of the advance team of the armed
opposition faction, SPLM-IO, under the leadership of former Vice
President, turned opposition leader, Riek Machar, are not making much
progress, despite mounting regional and global pressure on the two
sides to break deadlock in order to form a transitional government of
national unity in compliance with the peace agreement they signed in
August 2015 to end 21 months civil war.
JPEG - 45.2 kb
SPLM-IO Chief Negotiator, Taban Deng Gai, speaking to journalists at
Juba airport upon his return from Pagak with his team, 22 January 2016
(ST Photo)
President Kiir has repeatedly called to his office and held
face-to-face meetings with the senior members of the advance team of
the armed opposition over the past few days in the capital of Juba to
make them succumb to 28 states he unilaterally created, but could not
make progress.
Dhieu Mathok Diing, Secretary General of the SPLM-IO and a veteran
politician charged with overseeing talks aimed at implementing the
peace agreement, told Sudan Tribune on Saturday his group remained
fully committed to finding a way to break the deadlock if the
president and members of his government accepted implementation of
peace agreement the way it was signed based on 10 states.
However, Diing said no progress had been made even though they have
had several engagements with top government officials including
President Kiir himself whom he said had not indicated readiness to
move forward.
He said he was hopeful there would be “light at the end of this
situation of darkness.”
Peter Mabior Riiny, deputy head of youth league of SPLM-IO described
the beginning of the period after the 38 senior members of his group
visited their headquarters in Pagak for consultations with the
leadership there and returned to the national capital Juba as”
laborious” as it was in the proceeding weeks.
“We are not making much progress. Our colleagues in Juba have not
reported any progress and what we are hearing is that the government
is unable to move forward with the implementation of the agreement.
They (government) are proposing inclusion of 28 states in the
constitution. They are talking of expanding the advisory team. Our
team proposes five (5),” said Riiny.
The armed opposition leader stressed that the issue of advisors was
not a big deal, but the issue of 28 states because the agreement was
signed on the basis of 10 states and if there is a need to increase
the number then this would be done with participation of the citizens
as this is not the issue the two parties can decide before peace
agreement is implemented.
A presidential aide confirmed separately that President Kiir had
convened meetings with senior members of armed opposition without
successful story to share with the public after the meeting. The
official described the failed dialogue as “lost efforts", with
officials from both sides confirming "no progress" had been made.
“The SPLM-IO members are frustrating efforts of the president each
time they are called for meeting with him because members of the
international community are pressing him to talk with them but these
people are intransigent. They are reciprocating anything. They are
squandering the opportunity and people are dying. They have no country
in their hearts. They don’t care about the suffering of our people.
They only care about their positions and what Riek Machar and their
foreign friends tell them,” claimed a presidential aide who has been
involved in arranging several meetings between the president and
members of the opposition, including members of former detainees in
Juba.
Gordon Buay, one of the diplomats promoted to grade 2 as senior
Ambassador by Kiir’s presidential decree at the ministry of foreign
affairs and deployed to its mission at the United States, said
opposition group was making impossible demand.
Echoing views held by most government officials, particularly those
who see themselves close or wanting to be close to the president, Buay
said “the decision creating more states will never be revoked even if
heaven and earth come to an end than cancelling the presidential
order.”
“It has to be made clear that the cancellation of 28 states as Riek
Machar wishes will never happen. It is better for heaven and earth to
end than for the Establishment Order to be revoked,” said Buay on
Saturday.
In an attempt to address the main questions confronting the rival
sides, President Kiir’s deputy in government and party, James Wani
Igga, proposed that they discuss ending the violence and the formation
of a transitional government while leaving behind contentious matters
to be addressed later.
“The priority of our people now is peace and the current issue now is
to arrest this situation and then we can discuss these other things
later when there is peace, when our markets are working and when the
economic situation has improved. This is what we tell the advance team
of members of Riek and the members of the international community who
by the way are seeing the importance of these points,” said Igga in a
statement to the state owned South Sudan Television (SSTV) on Friday.
Igga however fell short to clarify what he meant to leave behind the
issue of 28 states, whether to allow them to operate or to suspend
them until another agreement is reached on how many states the country
should have.
The East African regional body, IGAD, which mediated the peace
agreement, has released a statement on Sunday, calling on President
Kiir to “suspend” the 28 states, describing the decision for creating
them as “inconsistent” with the peace agreement.
Besides, the two parties have not yet implemented the security
arrangements as required before forming a transitional government,
with IGAD also calling on the two groups to deploy their joint troops
in Juba in the first week of February before the government is formed.
However, senior political and military leaders, including the chief of
general staff, Paul Malong Awan, reject implementation of the security
arrangements in fear of war resuming inside Juba, throwing doubts
whether the government will withdraw its excess forces from the
capital and allow 3,000 opposition troops to enter Juba as per the
deal.
(ST)
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The Sudan Tribune editorial team.
1 February 10:04, by Akuma
“It has to be made clear that the cancellation of 28 states as
Riek Machar wishes will never happen. It is better for heaven and
earth to end than for the Establishment Order to be revoked,” said
Buay on Saturday. The statement made my week to begin well Ambassador
Buay.
repondre message
1 February 11:27, by Shadrack Nuer Machut
Bravo, Mr. Buoi!
We do not want reversal of 28 states. Let Riak & his
supporters weigh the benefits of their demand to drop 28 states and
negative consequences at the same time. Besides, let Riak come to Juba
for the implementation of peace instead of causing more chaos in
Addis. Will he come to Juba if 28 states are reversed according to his
wishes?
repondre message
1 February 14:05, by padiit gaga
28 States is not included in Peace but only 10 States and
it must be reverse according to international community word, with out
them S.sudan could not be independent country, now egad agreed with
them 28 States must reverse even though food lover said is better for
heavev and earth to end than to reverse them, the world is watching r
evil deed.
repondre message
1 February 13:55, by okucu pa lotinokwan
sanction is the only solution to the big fish
repondre message
1 February 16:20, by Mi diit
Members of Nuer-wew are using big-silly words nowadays.
Heaven and earth? OMG!
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