East African bloc threatens S.Sudan's feuding sides with sanctions
Tue Jun 10, 2014 9:30pm GMT
* Feuding groups are to complete talks in 60 days
* Neighbours concerned conflict could spread
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, June 11 (Reuters) - East African states threatened on Tuesday
to slap South Sudan's warring sides with sanctions unless they cease all
military operations in a conflict which has sparked fears that it could
spiral into genocide.
South Sudan's government and rebels, locked in heavy fighting since
mid-December, signed a second ceasefire agreement in May after a previous
deal failed to hold.
But government forces backing President Salva Kiir and soldiers loyal to his
sacked deputy Riek Machar violated the ceasefire hours after it took effect,
with the continued bloodshed compounding the worsening humanitarian crisis
in the world's youngest country.
Fighting has already killed thousands of people and driven more than 1.3
million from their homes. The United Nations has warned that 4 million
people could be on the brink of starvation by the end of the year because
violence had disrupted the planting season.
On Tuesday, leaders from the Intergovernmental Agency for Development (IGAD)
- the East African bloc brokering peace talks - held discussions with both
Kiir and Machar to push for an end to fighting ahead of negotiations on the
formation of a transitional government.
"They (Kiir and Machar) agreed fully to commit themselves to the already
signed agreements and to complete all negotiations within the coming 60 days
and then establish a transitional government of national unity," Ethiopian
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn told reporters after the meeting late on
Tuesday.
"If they don't abide to this agreement, IGAD as an organisation will act to
implement peace in South Sudan. On that, we have different options including
sanctions and (other) punitive actions as well," added Hailemariam, who is
also current chair of the bloc.
It is the first time that South Sudan's neighbours have issued such a
warning, indicating growing frustration in a region increasingly concerned
that the unrest may escalate into a broader regional conflict.
Washington has already imposed measures. The U.S. Treasury Department
sanctioned Peter Gadet, an army commander loyal to Machar, and Major-General
Marial Chanuong, head of Kiir's presidential guard.
The designation freezes any of their assets in the United States and blocks
American nationals or companies from dealing with them.
Fears of a descent into genocide grew after the United Nations said the
rebels had massacred hundreds of civilians in Bentiu in April. Residents of
Bor, a predominantly Dinka town, attacked members of the Nuer ethnic group
camped in a U.N. base soon afterwards.
Oil output, South Sudan's economic lifeline, has been cut by a third to
about 160,000 barrels per day since fighting began.
The U.N. peacekeeping department has had to boost the number of troops and
police and alter its mandate to make protecting civilians a top priority for
the U.N. mission in South Sudan, known as UNMISS.
Last month, U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said China planned to send
a battalion of troops to join UNMISS, along with additional soldiers from
Rwanda, Ethiopia and Kenya, who are expected to join the mission.
Fighting erupted in South Sudan in December after months of tensions sparked
by Kiir's decision to fire longtime rival Machar from his post as deputy
president. Deep ethnic divisions also have fuelled the violence, pitting
Kiir's Dinka people against Machar's Nuer group. (Editing by George Obulutsa
and Eric Walsh)