Mediators from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) returned empty-handed to Addis Ababa on Monday evening after a round of consultations with the President of South Sudan.
The consultations did not result in anything yet. On Tuesday morning the delegations sent by President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar resumed separate meetings with the mediators at a hotel in Addis Ababa.
IGAD’s return empty-handed form Juba comes after heightened hopes among the delegations that their visit would result in a breakthrough with respect to the release of the detainees.
Kiir said at a press conference on Monday in Juba that he is ready to release the detainees only after legal proceedings. The 11 senior SPLM politicians have been held for over a month without being charged with any crime.
“I expressed several times my willingness for peaceful settlement of the crisis and cessation of hostilities and considering the role and commendable mediation of the IGAD in Addis Ababa, in search for peace and stability, my government has now the following roadmap to announce for the return of peace and moving our country forward,” said Kiir.
“One, we want unconditional cessation of hostilties and ceasefire among the warring parties in the country as soon as possible, and to that end I did authorize our negotiating team that should they come to terms with the rebel group they should now sign the ceasefire.”
“The rebel groups of course have a condition, a condition that unless the detainees are released, there cannot be ceasefire. We don’t want such a condition. The release of the detainees should not be tied to the ceasefire,” he said.
Machar’s group on Saturday accepted to sign a ceasefire document which made no mention of the detainees. Kiir’s spokesman likewise indicated assent to the ceasefire at that time.
The president in his speech on Monday did suggest a mechanism by which he might release the detainees. “Presidential pardons and general amnesty shall be part of peace efforts in accordance with the constitution and laws of the country,” he said.
Taban Deng, head of the opposition delegation at the Addis Ababa talks, on Tuesday criticized the government saying, “Today they will say this, tomorrow something else.” He said the president had told IGAD mediators three weeks ago that he would release detainees “today, or tomorrow.”
Photo: IGAD Special Envoys Amb. Seyoum Mesfin and Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo
Related coverage: IGAD delegation heads to Juba for talks on detainees (19 Jan.)