South Sudan's Kiir in Ethiopia for talks with rebel leader
Fri May 9, 2014 11:59am GMT
* Would be first face-to-face meeting since conflict began
* Thousands killed in ethnic fighting
* Foreign powers want peace deal to avert genocide (Adds rebel spokesman,
diplomat, former SPLM leader)
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, May 9 (Reuters) - South Sudanese President Salva Kiir arrived
in Ethiopia's capital on Friday to meet rebel leader Riek Machar under
growing international pressure for an end to ethnic fighting that has raised
fears of genocide.
The talks in Addis Ababa will be the first since the outset of a nearly
five-month conflict during which both government forces and rebels have
committed crimes against humanity, according to the United Nations.
Cranking up pressure on two leaders who have been embroiled in a long power
struggle, the European Union threatened sanctions against anyone blocking
peacemaking and a deal on reforms to tackle endemic poverty and disorder.
The United States earlier this week slapped sanctions on two commanders on
opposing sides of the conflict, a sign of the United States' growing
frustration with leaders in Africa's youngest country that Washington helped
win its independence.
Western diplomats say negotiating an end to the fighting is a priority. The
Juba government announced on Wednesday it had ordered the army to suspend
attacks on rebels under the terms of an agreed "month of tranquillity."
But a rebel spokesman said there could be no talk of a proper ceasefire
until a deal laying out the path towards an interim government was agreed.
"The government has been speaking about a ceasefire. But you cannot have a
ceasefire without a solution firmly in place," Hussein Mar Nyot, a spokesman
for Machar's delegation, told Reuters in Addis Ababa.
"A roadmap must be agreed upon at this meeting."
The meeting between Kiir and Machar was to be held later on Friday at
Ethiopia's presidential palace.
"WAR WITH NO WINNERS"
Fighting erupted in South Sudan's capital Juba in mid-December between
soldiers loyal to Kiir and those backing Machar and quickly spread across
the country, often pitting Kiir's ethnic Dinka community against Machar's
Nuer.
A ceasefire signed by both camps in January never took hold and South Sudan,
which declared independence from Sudan in 2011, has since lost a third of
its economically vital oil output.
Thousands of people have been killed and about a million displaced. Forces
on both sides have committed murder, rape and other sexual abuses, according
to a 62-page U.N. report.
A member of the South Sudanese government delegation confirmed Kiir's
arrival in Addis Ababa on Friday, a day after Machar, who he sacked as his
deputy in July.
Delegates of both camps and diplomats milled around Addis Ababa's luxurious
Sheraton Hotel on Friday, where fitful talks have been taking place, while
tens of thousands of South Sudanese have sought refuge in U.N. bases across
Ethiopia.
Among those present was Pagan Amum, former secretary general of South
Sudan's ruling SPLM party, and three other senior political figures
previously accused by Kiir's government of plotting a coup.
Machar warmly embraced the four, whose treason charges were dropped last
month. Amum said he also hoped to meet Kiir later.
"Our people and nation are being divided by this war," Amum told reporters.
"It is a war that has no winners."
One Western diplomat said there was a push for the peace process to include
Amum and other former political prisoners, the church and local civil
society groups.
"You can't leave it to warring guys because then it's basically about who
gets what part of the cake," said the Juba-based Western diplomat. "These
(talks) are a fundamental review of where the country is going and on what
basis." (Additional reporting by Drazen Jorgic in Juba; Writing by Richard
Lough, James Macharia; Editing by Mark Heinrich)