Aldo Ajou Deng, a prominent member of the Jieng (Dinka) Council of Elders has blamed friction among South Sudan leaders for the failure of talks last month, saying it’s actually the South Sudanese fault that the warring parties ended the talks without any agreement.
Aldo Deng's lobby group informally advises President Salva Kiir. The group purports to represent the interest of the Dinka ethnic group in the country.
Kiir has recently blamed the United States of America, a member of the Troika group, for failed peace talks saying the US arms embargo imposed on his government emboldened the opposition groups.
The information minister Michael Makuei also criticized the international community for calling for all-out sanctions against his government saying the threats of sanctions will not change anything about its principled position on the peace process.
Aldo said in a statement that the time has come for South Sudanese to blame themselves instead of blaming foreign nations. “Not to others anymore…We have betrayed our country and ourselves. We are now politicians of a dying people and the country. We have become a world laughing stock,” Ajou said. “
“For now, it is the South Sudanese politicians and the warring parties that must get blaming-fingers and not Troika,” he added.
Ajou commended troika countries for its role in the 2005 peace agreement between the rebels and the government of Sudan.
Ajou, who is also a legislator in Juba, acknowledge the efforts exerted by the members of the Troika group and IGAD leaders to convince South Sudanese to sign the cessation of hostilities agreement in December 2017.
“I consider these efforts as a huge breakthrough, which should induce reconciliatory working attitudes towards a game of "give and take" political scenarios,” he said.