South Sudan Sees New Fighting as Peace Efforts Falter
August 19, 2015
by VOA News
With peace efforts in South Sudan in tatters, fighting resumed in parts of the country between government troops and rebel forces, a South Sudanese military spokesman said Wednesday.
International frustration is mounting after South Sudan President Salva Kiir refused to sign a power-sharing deal with rebels on Monday, with the U.S. pushing on Tuesday for U.N. sanctions against the government.
South Sudan military spokesman Colonel Philip Aguer said fighting broke out Wednesday in the oil-producing Upper Nile state, close to the border with Sudan, with rebels trying to take areas controlled by government troops.
Aguer said fighting also broke out Tuesday in Eastern Equatoria state, between Juba, the capital, and the town of Nimule on the border with Uganda. He said there had been no fighting in the area previously and accused the rebels of starting the latest violence in an attempt to open a new front.
Rebel spokesman Major General James Chuol blamed government troops for launching the first attack on Tuesday.
It was not possible to independently verify the various allegations.
Meanwhile, U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice criticized Kiir's government for a "failure of leadership," saying it had “yet again squandered the opportunity to bring peace” and end a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and plunged the country into chaos by refusing to sign a peace agreement.
15 days
Rice said in a statement Tuesday that Washington was proposing sanctions "if an agreement is not signed by the government within 15 days and a cease-fire is not implemented promptly by all parties."
On Monday, Kiir surprised mediators and international observers by refusing to sign a power-sharing agreement with rebel leader Riek Machar, his former deputy. After days of negotiations, Kiir said he needed more time to study the peace deal.
South Sudan has been at war since December 2013 and the violence has imploded along ethnic lines. Kiir's ethnic Dinka people are pitted against Machar's Nuer.
'Not very surprising'
Chatham House researcher Ahmed Soliman said when a Monday deadline passed with no deal, "it was not very surprising, given the developments over the last 20 months."
Soliman said one major sticking point is power-sharing that would give each party a certain percentage of seats in the state parliaments.
Analyst Nhial Tiitmamer at the Juba-based Sudd Institute said the plan also calls for demilitarizing Juba, which government supporters see as a major infringement on their sovereignty.
“It means foreign forces would likely be the ones to protect Juba, so for them, they do not want to see this," Tiitmamer said.
He said these are tough conditions for Kiir to sell to his constituents.
“Whenever the parties were about to narrow the gap, they would be sent back for consultations. When they got back from consultations, their positions would be hardened more," Tiitmamer said.
Negotiations
Tiitmamer said the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the East African block leading the negotiations, made a mistake in setting a deadline for an agreement, saying the parties should have been given more time to work out an agreement themselves.
Chatham House’s Soliman said he agrees, to a point.
"We have had a lot of time. And there really is not, I think, any excuses anymore," he said.
However, Soliman and Tiitmamer are in agreement that failure to reach a peace deal damages IGAD’s credibility as a regional authority.
The United Nations said the war has displaced more than 2.2 million people -- 1.5 million internally and 730,000 to neighboring countries.
The U.N. mission in the country said nearly 70 percent of the country's population is facing food shortages while nearly 200,000 civilians are sheltering at U.N. bases.
Steve Baragona contributed to this report from Nairobi. Some material for this report came from Reuters, AP and AFP.
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