South Sudanese President Salva Kiir signed a peace deal to end a 20-month conflict with rebels on Wednesday after voicing reservations about the pact, according to witnesses at the ceremony attended by African regional leaders.
Kiir said he had serious reservations which need to be addressed. However, he signed the document. While signing he was assisted page by page by his cabinet minister.
The presidents of Kenya and Uganda, and the prime minister of Ethiopia, who all helped mediate the negotiations, were at the signing event in the capital Juba, as well as top level South Sudanese officials.
Rebel leader Riek Machar had already signed the accord in the Ethiopian capital last week. He did so without voicing any formal reservations about the deal.
The immediate reactions have been mixed. Though news of the signing did not yet reach most South Sudanese people, some citizens in the streets who heard about the signing were seen happy and expressed their joy.
“Yes for peace because it will stop killing and displacement of our people!” said one resident, James Ajak.
Some South Sudanese users of social media and foreign observers also welcomed the news, while others were more skeptical. A wire service correspondent who reports on South Sudan from Kenya called it a “meaningless peace deal that is impossible to implement.”
A Ugandan journalist watching Kiir’s speech on the occasion observed that Kiir’s speech was “filled with pauses and hesitations, maybe a sign of the pressure he is under from the international community and his party.”
Correction: As originally published, this article stated that Gen. Paul Malong was notably not in attendance at the signing ceremony. He was later seen at the event.