South Sudan rebel leader says committed to peace deal

Jan 29, 2016 South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar recently reiterated his commitment to the peace deal that was entered between government and rebel forces.

He however went on say that President Salva Kiir’s creation of new states is an impediment to ending the two-year civil war and called on outside mediators to reject the president’s move.

A political dispute between Kiir and Machar sparked a civil war, which has since widened and reopened ethnic fault lines between the Dinka and Nuer tribes.

Following a meeting with regional mediators, Machar told a news conference in the Ugandan capital Kampala that he had appealed to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and others to pressure Kiir to abandon the state creation plans.

“I have not violated any provisions of the agreement – it is the government that has violated the agreement. Ask them, where are they taking us? My team is in Juba, soon we will send more teams to Juba for the dissemination of the peace agreement. There is no way except implementing this peace agreement,”

South Sudan political analyst, Angelo Izama, also commented on the peace process saying:

“So, I think just because the guns have gone silent it is a very bad conclusion (that peace talks have worked). And only people who are external, who are involved in this kind of diplomacy, would like to advertise that the peace negotiations have delivered actual peace, no I don’t think so. There is a state of war there that will be permanent until the political conditions completely reverse and this hasn’t happened. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if actual fighting breaks up pretty soon,”