Rebels accuse S.Sudan army of breaking truce deal hours after signing
Sat Nov 8, 2014 4:00pm GMT
* Rebels' chief negotiator says their positions attacked
* Ceasefire agreed in Addis Ababa only hours earlier
* Parties that violate deal to be punished with sanctions
* IGAD bloc ready to "intervene to protect life and stability" (Updates
headline)
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, Nov 8 (Reuters) - South Sudanese rebels accused the government
on Saturday of violating their latest ceasefire deal, just hours after both
sides pledged to end almost a year of fighting.
The European Union and the United States, desperate to prevent the world's
newest state sliding back into chaos, have already imposed sanctions on both
sides for frequent breaches of a first peace agreement signed in January,
and threatened more.
The internal conflict in South Sudan, which declared independence from Sudan
in 2011, has killed more than 10,000 people, driven 1 million from their
homes and raised the spectre of famine.
Taban Deng Gai, negotiator for the ethnic Nuer rebels loyal to former vice
president Riek Machar, said government troops had "advanced from Bentiu and
Pariang and attacked our positions at Tor and Hofra in Unity state".
Unity is South Sudan's oil hub and saw fighting last month. Neither the
government of President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, nor the eight-nation
regional bloc IGAD, were available for comment.
Seyoum Mesfin, chief mediator in the conflict, had announced in the early
hours, after two days of talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, that
both sides had agreed to cease hostilities unconditionally and bring the war
to an end.
"The parties commit to an unconditional, complete and immediate end to all
hostilities, and to bring the war to an end," said Seyoum, adding that they
had also pledged to stop recruiting and mobilising civilians.
THREAT OF SANCTIONS
The former Ethiopian foreign minister told reporters that IGAD had granted
the two sides 15 days to conduct further consultations, and said it had
agreed to punish any party that violated the agreement with asset freezes
and travel bans, among other measures.
He said IGAD would also stop the supply of arms and ammunition to any side
that carried on fighting.
"The IGAD region shall, without further reference to the warring parties,
take the necessary measures to directly intervene in South Sudan to protect
life and restore peace and stability," he said.
Machar welcomed the deal, saying: "We do not want any soldier or any
civilian to die again after this progress in Addis Ababa."
Kiir, for his part, ordered troops from the national army to stay in their
barracks in compliance with the agreement.
"Should they be attacked from any direction, they should only fight in
self-defence," Kiir said.
The U.S. delegation to the United Nations has announced plans for a draft
resolution to establish a "mechanism for targeting individuals" undermining
South Sudan's stability and abusing human rights, an official told Reuters
on Tuesday.
Australia's U.N. ambassador, Gary Quinlan, president of the Security Council
this month, said his country and several other council members backed the
idea of making an arms embargo part of any South Sudan sanctions regime. He
declined to comment on the timing of any sanctions. (Writing by Duncan
Miriri; Editing by)