Officials at the US presidency in Washington have cancelled meetings with South Sudanese Vice President James Wani Igga and rebel leader Riek Machar, on the grounds that the officials on the two sides are not serioues enough about peace.
Foreign Policy reported that US National Security Advisor Susan Rice abruptly scrapped a scheduled meeting with Machar on Tuesday. Ned Price, a spokesman for the National Security Council, disclosed that meetings with Igga and SPLM Secretary-General Pagan Amum were also canceled.
“After a renewal of fighting over the weekend, Machar’s unwillingness to make compromises in security sector reform negotiations, and the government’s decision to create 28 new states in violation of the spirit of the peace agreement, we decided not to receive the parties at the White House until they demonstrate a stronger commitment to promoting peace in South Sudan,” Price said.
Machar was annoyed by the decision. He lashed out at Rice and the US Special Envoy to South Sudan Donald Booth, accusing them of not being serious about supporting peace.
“I am frustrated,” Machar told Foreign Policy. “Why would she cancel such a meeting? America has been supporting a lot, and in the last minute you can’t chicken out.”
Referring to a recent conversation he had with a less senior US official, Donald Booth, Machar accused the diplomat of naivete and one-sidedness saying, “He wants me to be slaughtered by Salva, then I would be a good person…”
“‘Go to Juba, sign your death,’” he added, mocking Booth’s suggestion he go back to the capital even without security guarantees and before withdrawal of Ugandan forces, a key provision of the peace agreement.
“Why would I return to a killing ground?”
Separately, the United States government yesterday condemned the resumption of fighting in Unity State, where rebels last week launched attacks that were followed by retaliatory strikes from the government side.
The US also called on Machar’s rebel group to “resolve outstanding security-related issues” — a likely reference to a recent ceasefire workshop at which the rebel group declined to sign the meeting minutes. The African Union last week demanded Machar sign the minutes “without precondition and without further delay, to enable the implementation process to start in earnest.”