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South Sudanese rebels and government negotiators were set to begin their first face-to-face talks, in an effort to thrash out a ceasefire deal to end weeks of fighting in the country.The talks were set to start yesterday after several days of delay, and have been overshadowed by continued clashes between President Salva Kiir’s SPLA government forces and rebels loyal to former Vice- President Riek Machar.
“We envisage a rapid agreement of the cessation of hostilities and ceasefire arrangements in order to create a conducive atmosphere for addressing outstanding political issues,” government representative Niag Deng Nial said at a ceremonial opening to the talks at a luxury hotel in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Saturday.
“Our people have suffered a lot during the struggle for our independence and they should not suffer again in our hands,” he added.
The talks will focus on when and how to roll out the ceasefire that both sides have agreed to in principle, though neither has indicated a start date.
The head of the rebel delegation, Taban Deng Gai, has repeated Machar’s call for the release of several senior politicians allied to the former vice president and for the state of emergency imposed by Kiir in two regions of South Sudan to be lifted.
“With the current mass killing going on in the country and political detention, there can be no conducive atmosphere for peace talks,” he said.
Western and regional powers, many of which supported the negotiations that led to South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in 2011, are pressing for a peace deal, fearing the new fighting could slide into civil war and destabilise east Africa.
US Secretary of State John Kerry voiced support for direct South Sudanese peace talks and cautioned against any use of force to try to gain the upper hand.
“Both parties need to put the interest of South Sudan above their own,” Kerry said in Jerusalem.
Peace talks had been delayed for days because the two sides were unable to agree upon an agenda, officials said. The slow start is a worrying sign for South Sudan, which has been embroiled in violence for weeks, with Kiir accusing Machar of an attempted coup.
Forces loyal to Machar now control two state capitals, including the strategically located town of Bor. On Saturday, the South Sudanese army battled to wrest back control of Bor, with reports of intense battles involving tanks and artillery.
Meanwhile, more residents of South Sudan’s capital were packing up belongings and fleeing for the border with Uganda yesterday after several hours of fierce clashes during the night, an AFP correspondent said.
Juba was rocked by heavy gunfire late on Saturday, with exchanges of automatic and heavy weapons fire heard coming from a district in the south of the city before calm returned in the early hours of the morning.
There was speculation that another army unit had defected to the rebels, although army spokesperson Philip Aguer said that the government was “investigating exactly what happened” during the night.
A police spokesperson said the fighting may have been caused by “criminals trying to scare people so they can go into houses and steal”.
“The government is trying to control the situation,” the official said.
After a terrifying night sheltering in their homes, more residents could be seen trying to get transport south to Uganda, adding to the nearly 200,000 people who have already been displaced by the three-week-old conflict.
The conflict erupted on December 15, pitting Kiir against a loose alliance of ethnic militia forces and mutinous army commanders nominally headed by Machar.
Kiir has accused Machar of starting the unrest by attempting a coup, although Machar denies this and in turn accuses the president of conducting a violent purge of his rivals.
The conflict has already left thousands dead, according to UN officials, with both sides alleged to have committed atrocities. — AFP
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