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Elisabeth Janaina

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Jan 16, 2014, 6:51:28 AM1/16/14

South Sudan ‘Hopeful’ On Talks With Rebels

JUBA, 08 January 2014 - South Sudan government delegation head on peace talks has expressed optimism over ongoing peace talks with rebels loyal to former Vice President Dr. Riek Machar in the Ethiopian Capital, Addis Ababa, saying there is “hope.”

Nhial Deng Nhial, the Head of the South Sudan government negotiation team arrived home from Addis Ababa on Monday for consultations with President Salva Kiir following the start of face to face talks with the rebels in its first day on Monday.

“We are hopeful,” Nhial told journalists in Juba on Tuesday shortly after meeting Kiir.
“So there is an intense process that is going on aimed at arriving and speedily as possible to cessation of hostilities,” he said.

“Initially, there is a hiccup that threatens to scuttle the negotiation but fortunately the problem was resolved. The other side basically insisted that they cannot talk unless they see that the detainees are set free,” Nhial said.

Three Chief mediators from; Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya on behalf of the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) brokering the talks also arrived on Monday to Juba to meet Kiir for consultations.

Release of detainees before the talks get to peak and commitment to other issues including cessation of hostilities remained key demand of the rebels.

Though South Sudan government said the detainees, accused of masterminding a coup on 15 last month, can only be released in accordance with the laws of South Sudan.  

Source: Gurtong trust

Only legal procedures, will determine the release of political detainees, says Kiir

JUBA, 07 January 2013 – South Sudan Government will not release political detainees, as demanded by the rebel representatives in the on-going talks taking place in the Ethiopia capital Addis Ababa but can do so “only after legal procedures” have been exhausted, President Salva Kiir Mayardit said.

The first face-to-face talks between the Government and the rebel’s representatives started yesterday [Monday] after days of separately deliberating on the ground rules of the talks aimed at ending the three weeks of violence.

Presidents Bashir and Kiir in a joint press confress at State House [J1] in Juba
[Photo: Matata Safi]

“We said in the beginning we are committed to dialogue, but without preconditions, nobody should give us conditions. We still remain committed to that principle. We are now been given conditions that we release political detainees first before talks could go ahead. This is a condition that I will not accept, if it a matter of releasing the detainees, we have to follow legal measures, the legal procedures will have to be followed according to the constitution” President Kiir reaffirmed.

President Kiir while stressing accountability said “We have lost more than 100 lives, ……and if such a number of people have died, property has either been destroyed or looted; we want to know who is responsible to all these loses. It is not just a matter of releasing people who have been the cause of all this destruction, they will be released but not as a precondition for talks”.

At least 1, 000 lives have been lost and 200,000 people displaced following a “foiled coup” attempt in mid December last year. Following the coup attempted, the Government arrested more than ten individuals and accused the former Vice President Dr. Reik Machar who has decleared war against the Government of plotting the "failed coup".

Rebel forces are still engaging the Government forces, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in the two states of Jonglei and Unity despite calls for a ceasefire. The East African regional Bloc- Inter-Government Authority on Development [IGAD] is taking the lead in the mediations.

President Kiir made the remarks on Monday while meeting the Sudanese President Omar Hassan El Bashir in Juba. President Bashir called for an immediate end to the fighting and urged the two parties to take the IGAD peace initiative to end the crisis.

“Violence can not solve anything, we fought among ourselves for 21 years and lastly we had to go to the negotiation table to resolve our difference” President Bashir said while referring to Sudan’s long civil war that ended in the Independence of South Sudan in July 2011. President Bashir reiterated his support to a peaceful solution in ending the currently crisis in South Sudan.