Regional leaders hold summit in Kenya on S. Sudan crisis
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December 27, 2013 (JUBA) - African leaders from member countries of
the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on Friday held
a special summit in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to discuss how the
region can avert a current political crisis in South Sudan from
developing into a full blown civil war.
JPEG - 68.1 kb
African leaders at the IGAD heads of state and government meeting held
in Nairobi, Kenya on Friday, December 27, 2013 (Photo: Moses Lomoyat)
The meeting took place a day after Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta and
the Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, paid an official
one-day working visit to South Sudan for talks with president Salva
Kiir.
The leaders each held separate closed door meetings with president
Kiir before a joint cabinet briefing at which South Sudanese
government officials announced that visiting African leaders had
welcomed the commitment of Kiir’s administration for an immediate
cessation of hostilities, calling on armed opposition members loyal to
former vice-president Riek Machar to make similar commitments in order
for dialogue to proceed.
South Sudan’s foreign minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin attended the
special summit of IGAD member countries, saying his government was
ready for dialogue.
“President Salva Kiir Mayardit had openly pledged full commitment to
quickly resolve political differences through peaceful dialogue. The
government is therefore ready for talks with the former
vice-president, Riek Machar”, he told reporters at Juba Airport on
Friday prior to his departure for Nairobi.
Marial, however, said president Kiir was unable to attend the summit
because he already held extensive discussions with African leaders
during their Juba visits.
“Everything they (African leaders) wanted to hear from the government
and the president was shared with them”, he said.
Many government critics, including Rebecca Nyandeng, widow of the
founding leader of South Sudan’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement (SPLM), John Garang de Mabior, have expressed optimism about
the talks and regional intervention.
“I have said violence does not solve political issues. If we had [of]
sat down long time ago as leaders, we would have ironed out all these
issues and concerns amicably”, Nyandeng told Sudan Tribune on Friday.
Those who had died during South Sudan’s long struggle for independence
would not have been happy with current developments in the country,
she further stressed.
FIGHTING RAGES IN MALAKAL
While regional efforts are quickly grabbing attention, fighting
between forces loyal to the government in Juba and those who switched
allegiance is continuing to rage around Malakal town, the capital of
the country’s second largest oil producer, Upper Nile state, where
thousands remain out of work since Tuesday.
“There has been fighting since Tuesday. The government remains in
control of the airport because this is where there are heavy
artilleries, including tanks. The anti-government elements are in
control of town. They are actually in control but it appears they are
in weak position, because they are not getting any reinforcement like
the government forces”, a local journalist who has fled to a UN camp
in Malakal told Sudan Tribune on Friday.
More than 500 people have been killed since violence erupted on 15
December, according to official figures, although aid agencies and
other sources on the ground put the true death toll in the tens of
thousands.
Thousands of people have taken shelter at UN bases in Juba after
fleeing their homes, with violence spreading to Jonglei and Unity
states.
Many observers had predicted that Kiir was always going to have a hard
time running the country after falling out with Machar.
Both men are former rebel fighters and senior figures in the SPLM,
which led South Sudan to independence after a more than
two-decade-long civil war with Sudan.
Prior to his removal, Machar had criticised the leadership style of
president Kiir, revealing the bitter divisions within the SPLM’s inner
circles.
A statement released by president Kiir a day after violence erupted
described the incident as an attempted coup, saying plotters had swung
into action following a SPLM meeting in Juba.
“An unidentified person fired in the air and escaped”, Kiir told
members of parliament this week. That incident was followed later by
an attack on the army headquarters near Juba University, which Kiir
described as “something well-planned and coordinated within their (his
political opponents) supporters in the armed forces”.
(ST)
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