South Sudan’s armed opposition delegation on Monday boycotted the opening of peace talks in Ethiopia saying the government had failed to honour the ceasefire.
“We are abstaining from participating in the next round of peace talks,” said the opposition group, which identifies itself as the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army – synonymous with the name of the ruling party of the country.
In a statement late Monday the head of the opposition delegation Taban Deng Gai explained that their demand for the release of political prisoners had not been met nor had the government respected the ceasefire.
This comes after President Salva Kiir declared last week he would prosecute four top political prisoners rather than release them to join the peace talks. He released at the end of January seven political prisoners but not all 11 as demanded.
Kiir says that the detained politicians masterminded a plot to overthrow the government. He blames them for the outbreak of bloodshed in the country. In a speech last week he listed numerous atrocities committed by the rebels before explaining his decision to keep the politicians detained.
Another point of contention is the role of foreign forces in the conflict. Terms of the ceasefire deal signed 23 January required allied troops to withdraw from the theatre of operations, but not necessarily from non-contested parts of the country such as the capital.
SPLM/A in Opposition in their statement alleged that the Ugandan army was “still actively engaged in combat” despite the terms of the ceasefire, and also accused Kiir’s forces of besieging a United Nations compound housing displaced people in Juba.
IGAD, the regional bloc mediating the talks, said the opposition delegation’s boycott decision contradicted their own leader’s position and was “tantamount to holding hostage the people and the nation.”
Seyoum Mesfin, chief mediator for IGAD, called the opposition delegation’s stance a reversal of their earlier position and contradicting that of their own leader Riek Machar, the ousted vice president who now heads the opposition.
“It contradicts the commitment of their leader who assured the envoys…that he would not put those demands and positions as a condition. That would be tantamount to holding hostage the people and the nation because of those demands,” Seyoumn told reporters in Addis Ababa.
File photo: Delegation leader Taban Deng Gai during the first round of negotiations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, January 2014 (Reuters)