Eleven top dissident SPLM politicians detained by South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir must be involved in any negotiations following a ceasefire deal Thursday, UN leader Ban Ki-moon said.
Ban welcomed the ceasefire deal signed in the Ethiopian capital last night but said Kiir and his opponent Riek Machar must now quickly move to comprehensive political talks.
The UN chief “underscores the necessity to continue without delay a national political dialogue to reach a comprehensive peace agreement, with the participation of all South Sudanese political and civil society representatives, including the SPLM detainees,” said his spokesman Martin Nesirky.
Kiir’s detention of the 11 top Sudan People’s Liberation Movement officials considered close to Machar was a major sticking point in the talks to end the conflict that erupted on December 15.
Under the ceasefire, the government agreed to release the 11, but has given no timeframe for the move.
UN Security Council members also have apparently taken notice of President Salva Kiir’s recent accusations against UN peacekeepers in South Sudan, according to a diplomat Jordan, which now holds the rotating presidency of the Council. “The Council Members, all of them, expressed support for UNMISS [UN Mission in South Sudan] and reiterated importance that all parties cooperate fully with UNMISS,” said Mahmoud Daifallah, Senior Deputy Permanent Representative of Jordan.
As quoted by the UN News Centre, the representative of the Council presidency also said that the Council condemned “attacks and accusations mounted against UNMISS and called for all parties to stop such acts and cooperate with [the Mission] in the fulfilment of its mandate.”
File photo: The Kenyan president and Ethiopian prime minister meeting with alleged coup plotters Oyai Deng, Gier Chuang, Kosti Manibe, Majak D’Agoot, Pagan Amum, Peter Adwok Nyaba, Chol Tong, Deng Alor, John Luk and others, 26 Dec. 2013 (BBC)