Peace brokers in troubled South Sudan have experienced a major setback. The rebel chief, Riek Machar, last Wednesday refused to sign a final peace deal with the government aimed at ending the brutal civil war in that country.
The Sudanese Foreign Minister, Al-Dierdiry Ahmed, told reporters in Khartoum that the main South Sudanese opposition groups, “including the SPLM-IO (Machar faction), refused to sign the final document demanding that their reservations be guaranteed in it”.
The warring South Sudanese parties have held weeks of talks in Khartoum in search of a comprehensive peace deal to end the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions in the world’s youngest country since it erupted in December 2013.
Machar and his arch enemy, South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir, have already signed some agreements, including a permanent ceasefire and a power-sharing deal, but on Wednesday the rebel leader refused to sign the final document.
According to Ahmed, “For the first time, the opposition told us that it will not sign the deal”. The Minister showed the draft text to reporters and diplomats who had gathered in the Sudanese capital for what was expected to be a preliminary signing ceremony. He regretted that South Sudan will not have peace unless these groups sign the agreement. The Foreign Minister said the opposition’s refusal to put pen to paper spelled the end of the current Khartoum talks.
Ahmed described the lost moment as “the last round of negotiation”, pointing out that the mediators will submit the final text to the East African regional bloc, IGAD, which has been championing the South Sudan peace talks.
