A summit of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has been postponed until further notice at a request by the mediators.
Member states of IGAD, the regional bloc which is mediating the peace process for South Sudan, were scheduled to meet on Sunday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to discuss the young nation’s eight month civil war.
IGAD had set a new 28 August deadline for the government and the rebels to reach an agreement after a 10 August deadline passed.
Mohamed Tawakul, a political observer close to the peace talks, told Radio Tamazuj Sunday that the postponement of the summit comes after the government and the rebels failed to agree on contentious issues.
Tawakul said that the summit was delayed despite arrivals of advance teams in Ethiopia of the heads of state of IGAD, which includes eight countries in the East and Horn of Africa.
Tawakul said that the postponement might be attributed to renewed fighting on Friday in Benitiu and Ayod towns, and to the exclusion of civil society and political parties from the talks by the two warring factions. IGAD is pushing for inclusion of non-fighting stakeholders in South Sudan so that the voices at the peace talks do not include only belligerents.
The IGAD mediators are expected to present a report after 28 August.
Should the two parties fail to reach a peaceful settlement by then, the UN Security Council may take specific measures against the main rival factions, Tawakul said.
However, IGAD and the Security Council have repeatedly threatened such sanctions if the factions missed previous deadlines or violated ceasefire terms but have yet to follow through on those threats.
