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South Sudan talks falter

August 15, 2015

Amid conflicting reports, South Sudan says it will continue peace talks to end a bloody civil war, but that President Salva Kiir will not currently take part. This comes as rebels seem to be at odds among themselves.

https://p.dw.com/p/1GG13
South Sudanese troops in armored vehicle Samir Bol / Anadolu Agency
Image: picture-alliance/AA/S. Bol

South Sudan's government said on Saturday that President Salva Kiir would not be attending peace talks in Ethiopia aimed at ending a 20-month civil war, and that Vice President James Wani Igga was going in his stead.

"We are still engaging in the peace efforts; that has not stopped," presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told AFP news agency.

"It has been decided the president should not be the one traveling," Ateny added, without saying when or whether Kiir might go at a later stage.

Rebel quarrels

Ateny's statement appeared to partly contradict a report in the "Sudan Tribune" newspaper that the government was calling back all its negotiators amid uncertainty as to who the other negotiating party is.

The paper quoted South Sudan's minister of cabinet affairs, Martin Elia Lomoro, as saying that for Kiir to attend the talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, he would first have to know with whom he is negotiating.

The governors of South Sudan's ten states have also called in a joint statement for peace talks to be suspended "until the two rebel factions sort out their differences."

Confusion in the matter arose on Tuesday, when top rebel generals said they had split from their leader Riek Machar, and that they would not recognize any deal that was reached at the talks.

Riek Machar speaking at a press conference AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)
Machar's position as rebel leader appears in doubtImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/K. Senosi

They accused Machar of "mismanaging and failing to unite the rebel movement."

Sanctions in the offing

The government and rebels are under intense international pressure to resolve the conflict before an August 17 deadline or face possible sanctions, including arms embargoes, asset freezes and travel bans.

Ateny called for more time for the talks, saying the government needed to determine who was in control in rebel zones.

South Sudan's civil war erupted in December 2013 when Kiir accused his former deputy Machar of planning a coup. The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and made 2 million homeless.

The conflict, which has laid bare ethnic divisions in the poverty-stricken country, has been marked by terrible atrocities. Months of peace talks have produced a series of ceasefires that have failed to put an end to the fighting.

The current round of talks started on August 6, mediated by the regional eight-nation Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the United Nations, African Union, China and a "troika" made up of Britain, Norway and the United States.

tj/sgb (AFP, dpa)