A combo photo of South Sudan President Salva Kiir (left) and the leader
of South Sudan’s largest rebel group and former Vice President Riek
Machar. South Sudan peace rests on the two meeting. PHOTOS | AFP
It is now up to the regional heads of state to move the South
Sudan peace process forward by enabling a face-to-face meeting between
President Salva Kiir and his nemesis, Dr Riek Machar.
The
decision by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad)
Council of Ministers in Addis Ababa on Friday says the two leaders must
agree between themselves.
“Even if you bring Angel
Gabriel to mediate, it will not make a difference until the two leaders
meet face to face and agree on the way forward. This is because there is
much trust deficit between the two that is difficult to bridge,” said
an official in Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs who was among the
Igad Council of Ministers who recently visited both President Kiir and
Dr Machar.
However, the face-to-face meeting — whose
date has to be decided by the Igad heads of state meeting before the AU
meeting in July — remains a tall order since President Kiir had made it
clear that he can no longer work with Dr Machar, who leads the Sudanese
People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO).
In
turn, Dr Machar — who has been under house arrest in South Africa since
November 2016 — says he has lost all trust in President Kiir.
Ababu Namwamba, who represented Kenya at the talks, says when
the Igad ministers delivered a message from President Kiir that Dr
Machar is free to return home and choose his own protection force, the
rebel leader termed it as “a joke”.
Cessation of Hostilities agreement
According
to Mabior Garang de Mabior, the SPLM-IO director of information and
public relations, the rebel group has welcomed the decision with caution
in light of Juba’s intransigence and continued violation of the
Cessation of Hostilities agreement.
“The SPLM-IO,
despite being hopeful of the prospects of a negotiated settlement, would
like to express our concern regarding any imposition of an agreement on
the parties. It is our contention that there are no shortcuts to peace,
as demonstrated by the collapse of the Agreement in July, 2016,” said
Mr Mabior.
In March, the Igad Council of Ministers had
resolved that Dr Machar be released from house arrest and relocated to
another country that does not share borders with South Sudan on
condition that he renounces violence and does not undermine the peace
talks that were set to resume in Addis Ababa on April 26.
But
SPLM-IO had insisted that he must be freed without conditions as per
the Cessation of Hostilities agreement on prisoners of war signed last
December.
Meanwhile, on Thursday the UN Security
Council gave South Sudan’s warring sides a month to reach a peace deal
or face possible sanctions.
The resolution requires UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to report by June 30 on whether a
ceasefire agreed in December — the latest in a string of truce deals —
was holding, and whether the sides have “come to a viable political
agreement.”
If not, the council “shall consider,”
within five days of the report, slapping sanctions on South Sudan’s
defence minister and five other officials and possibly imposing an arms
embargo.
Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea argued that
peace efforts must be given more time, but Ivory Coast — the third
African country on the council — backed the resolution.
Ethiopia’s Ambassador Tekeda Alemu warned that sanctions could lead to the collapse of the regional peace effort by Igad.
“We
in the region are also extremely frustrated,” Mr Tekeda said, but he
added that the sanctions resolution “will be detrimental to the
process.”
Additional reporting by AFP
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