S.Sudan says it will suspend attacks on rebels for a month
Wed May 7, 2014 5:16pm GMT
* Government troops will still fight if attacked
* No word from rebels on implementing period of calm
* January ceasefire fell apart swiftly
* U.S. imposes sanctions on commanders of both sides (Adds comments from
South Sudanese foreign minister, edits)
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, May 7 (Reuters) - South Sudan's government said on Wednesday it
had ordered a one-month suspension of attacks on rebel forces as
international pressure mounts for an end to an ethnic conflict that has
raised fears of genocide.
South Sudanese Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth said the
government's commitment to honour a "month of tranquillity", proposed on
Monday at peace talks in Ethiopia, meant the army could still fight back if
attacked.
There was no immediate word from the rebels.
"We have already given our forces an order," Lueth told a news conference in
the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where months of peace talks have made
little progress.
A ceasefire deal struck in January swiftly fell apart, with each side
blaming the other for fighting that has exacerbated deep-rooted tensions
between President Salva Kiir's Dinka people and the Nuer tribe of his sacked
deputy president, Riek Machar. The conflict has largely followed ethnic
faultlines.
Kiir and Machar are due to hold face-to-face talks in Addis Ababa on Friday.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Juba last week that Kiir had
committed himself to talks on a transitional government, and has threatened
Machar with sanctions if he does not meet Kiir.
South Sudanese Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told Reuters on
Wednesday that the plan envisaged a "transitional process" that would last
until the next election in 2015.
"President Kiir will stay in power until the elections take place," he said.
Machar has called for Kiir to resign, saying he lost the people's trust
after fighting broke out in the presidential guard in December and quickly
spread across the country, which is about the size of Texas.
Thousands of civilians have been killed, and hundreds of thousands have fled
their homes.
GROWING FRUSTRATION
In a sign of growing frustration at the failure of South Sudan's leaders to
end the bloodshed, the United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two
commanders on opposing sides of the ethnic violence.
The sanctions were imposed under an executive order that U.S. President
Barack Obama signed in April to hold to account those responsible for the
unrest in South Sudan - whose secession from Sudan in 2011 was seen as a
major U.S. policy success.
Norway, another of South Sudan's main Western sponsors and donors, also made
clear that its patience was running out.
"We made it clear that the international community will react even firmer in
the coming months if they don't take responsibility in ending the fighting
and find a solution for an inclusive government for the future," Norwegian
Foreign Minister Borge Bende told Reuters in Addis Ababa.
Benjamin said in Juba that he had understood from Kerry that the regional
African group IGAD, which is sponsoring the peace talks, would take the lead
on any foreign sanctions.
"We were surprised that the United States pre-empted what they had agreed
upon," he said, although he added that he doubted relations with Washington
would be damaged.
The sanctions targeted Peter Gadet, an army commander loyal to Machar, and
Major-General Marial Chanuong, head of Kiir's presidential guard. One U.S.
official said both men had "blood on their hands". (Writing by Richard
Lough; Additional reporting by Andrew Green in Juba; Editing by Edmund Blair
and Kevin Liffey)