South Sudan’s warring leaders to sign compromise deal

The government of South Sudan said Monday that it will wait up to two more weeks before signing a provisional peace treaty with rebel leader Riek Machar.

However Kiir, who said he had been “compelled” to join the talks alongside rebel leaders and regional presidents, warned it would not be possible to sign a lasting or full peace deal until all opposition factions could join the agreement.

“We expect the parties to be represented in Addis Ababa by their principals, in order to negotiate in good faith and sign an agreement”, IGAD and worldwide mediators said in a statement. Machar signed the accord before Kiir refused.

Kenyatta however was more optimistic, saying late Sunday that the talks were “on course to strike a deal”. Human Rights Watch last month reported that government forces had hanged, shot and burned alive civilians, including women and children, and had carried out widespread rapes and looting in an offensive in the rebel stronghold of Unity State in recent months.

“A peace that can not be sustained can not be signed”, Mr Kiir said on Sunday. “We call on President Kiir to reconsider his position so that they can sign and we can go forward”.

“I didn’t know that he was not going to sign”, he said.

Kenyatta urged foreign governments to recognize that South Sudan has shown its commitment to finding a peaceful solution.

They fought both alongside and against each other during the long and bitter war with Khartoum.

However, a source close to the mediation process told Anadolu Agency on the same day that South Sudanese President Salva Kiir was unlikely to attend upcoming talks in the Ethiopian capital. But some observers are skeptical that sanctions will be enough to change the tide.

Numerous rounds of negotiations have failed to end hostilities that have killed over 10,000 people and displaced more than 2 million, with both sides locked in a bitter war of attrition despite signing ceasefire deals.

The Darfur sanctions show how such measures can be hard to enforce. Though he is subject to a UN asset freeze, the Enough Project, a Washington-based think tank, alleges that Hilal funds atrocities by overseeing gold mining in Darfur and then facilitating trade with the Sudanese government.