Regional leaders push for South Sudan truce

By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU

KENYA: President Uhuru Kenyatta and other regional leaders are hopeful that the parties in the South Sudan conflict will have their first face-to-face talks before the expiry of the regional deadline at midnight Tuesday.

In an interview with The Standard, President Kenyatta’s spokesperson Manoah Esipisu, said the view within Kenyatta’s administration was that South Sudan President Salva Kiir and his protagonist Riek Machar will hold their meetings before the deadline expires, just as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) had resolved.

“We do expect talks to take place,” said Esipisu, as he pointed out that Igad mediators Lazarus Sumbeiywo (Kenya) and Seyoum Mesfin (Ethiopia) were “working” to make sure the resolution for a ceasefire and face-to-face talks was implemented.

The hope from Nairobi came as Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni warned that Mr Machar has to come to the table, as the region sought to stop the violence that has so far claimed over 1,000 lives, and displaced over 120,000 people.

“We gave Riek Machar four days to respond (to the ceasefire offer) and if he doesn’t, we shall have to go for him, all of us. That is what we agreed in Nairobi,” Museveni told reporters in Juba, according to a Reuters report published in Uganda’s New Vision newspaper.

Asked what that meant, Museveni said: “to defeat him”, the report added.

Similarly, Esipisu said Igad had already spoken about the issue, when it set the deadline, and that if the truce and talks don’t happen within the ultimatum, then, “the Heads of State will consider what the situation is and how to go forward”.

White Army

Meanwhile, Reuters yesterday reported that the feared White Army – made up largely of Nuer youths who dust their bodies with ash – clashed with government troops 18 miles from the town of Bor five days after rebels were driven out, Information Minister Michael Makuei said.

A rebel spokesman denied the White Army was controlled by Machar, a Nuer, the former vice president whose followers oppose Kiir, a Dinka.

Makuei told Reuters on Sunday the White Army militia had dwindled in numbers – from estimated 25,000 strong – after Nuer politicians and tribal elders persuaded them to abandoned their march on Bor.

– Additional reporting by Reuters