President calls on Sudanese to unite

JUBA: South Sudan’s president urged his people yesterday to “join hands” in implementing a peace deal to end more than 20 months of conflict, after repeated outbreaks of fighting since rebels and the government signed the pact last month.

When he signed the peace deal on August 26, just more than a week after rebel leader Riek Machar did, President Salva Kiir voiced “serious reservations” and accused African and other mediators of using intimidation to push him to agree to the terms.

Since then, each side has accused the other of violating the permanent ceasefire and stoking fighting.

Concerns

Kiir repeated his concerns about the deal in his statement to journalists in Juba yesterday, saying some elements needed to be renegotiated.

For example, he criticised the deal for declaring the capital and some other places demilitarised zones.

But he told South Sudan, which declared independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of war, that it was time to unite.

“I call upon all of you to join hands with me,” he said, urging South Sudanese to work together “during the transitional period until the general elections in 2018, until we bring peace to our country”.

“I am committed to peace and the implementation of the agreement,” he said.

The US and other Western donors have accused the two leaders of squandering goodwill after South Sudan’s independence and hindering development in an oil-producing nation with almost no tarmac roads. – Reuters