South Sudan’s president says will sign peace deal despite concerns

Last week President Salva Kiir requested more time to hold consultations before signing the deal. They promise to open humanitarian corridors and allow “30 days of tranquility” so farmers can sow crops and prevent starvation.

“It is not a Bible, it not the Koran, why should it not be revisited?” Mediators have said Kiir had voiced concerns about a demand that Juba become a demilitarised zone and conditions that he consult the first vice president on policy.

“It is showing that what we are doing here is not accepted by the other side”, Kiir said, adding he believed that negotiations on the deal should continue. 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.

The deal is meant to end months of brutal civil war and would see Mr Machar return as vice-president.

He labelled Mr Kiir “stubborn” and said that If both sides did not sign a peace deal by August 17, there would be economic sanctions and arms blockades.

The 15-member council had threatened on the eve of the signing to take “immediate action” if Kiir failed to sign, or signed with reservations.

Kiir signed the deal in presence of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in addition to diplomats and media representatives in the South Sudanese capital Juba, saying that he had reservations about some items of the document and mechanisms of its implementation.

The UN Secretary-General stated that 20 months of conflict had “devastated” South Sudan and subjected its people to “unspeakable suffering”. Find us on Facebook too!

“Those leaders are incapable of creating the peace that is required”, President Obama said.

Kiir, who signed under threat of United Nations sanctions after declining to do so alongside Machar last week, said he has concerns about provisions for sharing power and the demilitarization of Juba.

Ellen Margrethe Loej, the UN envoy to South Sudan, told the council that a peace accord – if signed on Wednesday – was “only a first step” and that many hurdles lie ahead.

On Tuesday, two South Sudanese were reported by the Doctors without Borders, or MSF, to be killed in Unity State.

South Sudan’s civil war broke out in December 2013 when clashes erupted following a political row been Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar.

Since then thousands have been slaughtered, a large number of the 11 million populace have been headed to the verge of starvation and 2 million individuals have fled their homes, frequently to neighboring states.