President Salva Kiir postponed a public rally scheduled to take place Thursday morning in Juba at the John Garang Mausoleum. It would have been his first public speech for more than a week, since his return from peace talks in Addis Ababa.
Kiir had signed a document on 1 February 2015 committing to personally conduct peace negotiations in Addis Ababa from 19 February and reach a deal by 5 March. The president instead showed up nearly two weeks late for the talks and failed to reach a compromise with his rival, rebel leader Riek Machar. He has not yet publicly explained why.
The rally yesterday, which was unexpectedly canceled, would have given Kiir an opportunity to relate to the public what had happened at the peace talks.
The official explanation for the cancellation is that preparations were not complete because word of the event had not spread widely enough through Juba town, which would have resulted in a poor turnout.
However, other political and security sources indicated that the real reasons for postponing the event were controversy within the government about the prepared text of the president’s speech as well as concerns about the public reaction.
Specifically, the prepared speech was hostile toward Western countries, including the United States and the United Nations. It also blamed rebel leader Riek Machar for the failure of the peace talks.
Some senior officials reportedly reacted negatively to this approach, cautioning against a confrontation with the West and urging the president to soften the language of the speech.
As of today, the speech is reportedly not finalized and may be revised.
Besides this, security elements reportedly recommended to the call off of the rally because they needed to assess the situation first, specifically regarding the public reaction to the collapse of the peace talks. A source said they are aware of indications that people are frustrated.
Related:
South Sudan warring group protests “white man’s” sanctions (5 March)