The President of the United States of America Barack Obama meets today with the Chairman of the East African regional bloc IGAD, Ethiopian Premier Hailemariam Desalegn, and other African leaders to lend his support for the IGAD peace process for South Sudan.

However, Obama is going into the meeting without high expectations of success for the IGAD-led process, according to US press reports.

The New York Times reported that Obama was expected to hold a meeting on South Sudan today with Ethiopian President Hailemariam Desalegn, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour of Sudan and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairwoman of the African Union.

A top US official speaking to reporters on Obama's airplane as he traveled to Ethiopia from Kenya told them, “This is an opportunity to reinforce the effort that’s on the table and to strategize ... on next steps in the event that it doesn’t succeed.”

Reuters quoted the unnamed official as saying, “I don’t think anybody should have high expectations that this is going to yield a breakthrough. The parties have shown themselves to be utterly indifferent to their country and their people, and that is a hard thing to rectify.”

The news agency said that the White House was considering a “Plan B” including an arms embargo and sanctions on individuals' assets and travel, in case the peace talks fail next month.

Reuters added, “The United States would like to see Uganda encourage Salva Kiir to accept a 'rational' deal, the official said.”

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has already responded to the sanctions threats. In a speech in March, he said he was not intimidated by the ‘stick’ of sanctions waved by Western powers, saying “let them hit.” Kiir's forces launched a major offensive in central and southern Unity State in April-May of this year.

Tomorrow, Obama is expected to address the African Union. He will be the first US president to do so. He has also just completed a visit to Kenya where he participated in an entrepreneurship summit with his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta.

Photo: Barack Obama with Hailemariam Desalegn in 2013 (Wikipedia/Commons)

Related:

South Sudan’s president responds to sanctions threat: Bring it on (18 March)