What Others Say About South Sudan's Crisis

[Elisabeth Janaina]

What Others Say About South Sudan's Crisis

These are selected reports from external media reports about the
recent ceasefire declaration by President Kiir.
25 May 2017
South Sudan President Order Army To Stop Attacks on Rebels Positions:
South Sudan President Salva Kiir on Wednesday directed the army to not
attack the position of armed opposition forces after declaring a
unilateral ceasefire, saying it was time to proof the world who was
looking for peace and who are instead in war. " I know they will be
attacking your positions after learning declaration of the ceasefire.
They will be provoking you but do not respond, don't move out of your
positions. This is the message you need to deliver to the division
commanders and the brigade commanders tell this is the message from me
and they should comply," President Salva Kiir told the chief of
defence staff on Wednesday. The president congratulated the military
officers whom he has given new assignments after restructuring the
army, telling it was time to work together as one body and cohesive
command. Susan Tribune
U.S., Britain, UN, Wary of South Sudan Ceasefire Announcement: The
United States, Britain and the United Nations were skeptical on
Wednesday of South Sudan President Salva Kiir's declaration of a
unilateral ceasefire, noting that it coincides with the start of the
rainy season that traditionally lessens fighting. Kiir also said on
Monday he would release political prisoners, but with no sign of a
political deal with rebels it was not clear whether a ceasefire would
take hold. U.N. South Sudan envoy David Shearer welcomed the
announcements, but warned they would be closely scrutinized. U.N.
peacekeepers have been deployed since South Sudan gained independence
from Sudan in 2011. "The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the
eating," Shearer told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday. Reuters
UN Envoy: South Sudan Ceasing Military Action as Rains Arrive: South
Sudan is experiencing significant military action and a last push to
position combatant forces because the rainy season has arrived and
roads will soon become unpassable for about four months, the U.N.
envoy for the conflict-wracked African country said Wednesday. David
Shearer told the U.N. Security Council that while the rains may bring
a respite to large-scale military maneuvers, they greatly complicate
the delivery of humanitarian aid and bring "the inevitable specter of
cholera," with 7,700 cases already reported. There were high hopes
that South Sudan would have peace and stability after its independence
from neighboring Sudan in 2011. But the country plunged into ethnic
violence in December 2013 when forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, a
Dinka, started battling those loyal to Riek Machar, his former vice
president who is a Nuer. AP

African Union, UN Seek Political Solution for South Sudan: The African
Union and the United Nations are seeking a political solution to the
South Sudan crisis, after the August 2015 peace agreement failed and
the East African region appeared to lose interest in the peace
process. African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki and UN
Secretary-General African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki and
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have now taken the lead in
lobbying the world to help South Sudan, where the war that started in
2013 has morphed into multiple inter-ethnic conflicts. Since taking
over the chairmanship in March, Mr Faki has been in talks with the AU
High Representative for South Sudan, former Malian president Alpha
Oumar Konare, on a new initiative that would involve Igad and the UN.
The East African
Posted in: Home
- See more at: http://gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ID/20499/Default.aspx#sthash.3UTZUQmA.dpuf