Locals on run, renewed fighting despite ongoing peace talks
Renewed fighting between troops loyal to Riek Machar and government forces ensued in Yei town, where reports described the rattle of automatic gunfire, forcing hundreds of locals to leave the town on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, peace talks are underway in Addis Ababa aiming to end three weeks of violence that forced tens of thousands of locals from their homes and killed at least 1,000 people.
The unrest pits President Salva Kiir’s SPLA government forces against rebels loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar. Both sides have said they want peace but there has been no sign when they would be prepared to lay down their arms.
Locals were beginning to doubt the chances of a ceasefire. I thought peace talks that have begun in Addis Ababa could stop fighting, but now it even intensifies, so I am leaving for Uganda. I am tired of this senseless violence,” Lodu Martin told The Niles while waiting for a bus.
I am tired of this senseless violence.”
Juba meanwhile was rattled by rumours of a rebel advance.
Sporadic gun fire could still be heard at Yei military barracks and at Jebel market in Juba on Sunday morning, sparking panic among locals. Half of South Sudanese states have suffered violent clashes.
Key roads between Juba and Bor and Juba and Yei have been closed amid the fighting.
The talks in Ethiopia will focus on when and how to cut-short the ceasefire that both sides have agreed to in principle, though neither has indicated a timing.
The talks have faced a series of delays as the government refused to accept some of rebel Machar’s pre-conditions, which included the release of the political arrested and a mechanism to monitor any ceasefire.
The fighting erupted on December 15, 2013, in Juba and has rapidly spread across the country. President Kiir accuses his political rival Riak Machar, who he sacked as Vice-president in July, of using violence to seize power.
Taban Deng Gai, the head of Machar’s delegation in Addis Ababa, on Saturday repeated his leader’s call for the release of several senior politicians allied to Machar’s alleged coup. He also called for President Salva Kiir to lift the State of Emergency imposed in two states, Jonglei and Unity State.
Not a single day can be lost in the search for peace in South Sudan.”
Meanwhile, the chairperson of the African Union Commission welcomed the beginning of talks between delegations from both parties as advocated for by its Peace and Security Council (PSC) on December 30, and the IGAD summit of December 27, last year.
Not a single day can be lost in the search for peace in South Sudan. Stopping the fighting in South Sudan is not only a humanitarian imperative but also a strategic necessity in order to halt the rapid descent of African’s newest nation into collapse,” Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said in a statement.
Zuma urged leaders of South Sudan to abandon any attempt to seek military advantage prior to entering negotiations.
An immediat end to hostilities and the beginning of political dialogue […] is not (just) African’s demand and that of the international community, but is also the plea of the people of South Sudan,” he said in the statement.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, ending Africa’s longest civil war.
