Addis Ababa, March 6, 2015 (SSNA) — Rival factions of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party have failed to reach a peace deal after many days of intense negotiations in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
In a statement released on Friday, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, disclosed that South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Dr. Riek Machar have failed to seal a deal that could bring the much-needed peace to the war-torn young nation.
“The talks did not produce the necessary breakthrough,” Desalegn said in the statement.
The Ethiopian leader has also expressed his disappointment over South Sudan main rivals’ inability to find a peaceful solution to the raging civil war.
“The consequences of inaction are the continued suffering of you, the people of South Sudan, and the prolonging of a senseless war in your country. This is unacceptable, both morally and politically,” he added.
Desalegn hopes that peace negotiations between South Sudanese rivals will resume in the near future.
Meanwhile, an African Union (AU) diplomatic source who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media revealed to the South Sudan News Agency (SSNA) that South Sudan’s peace talks have basically been suspended and that the only thing that is not known to the public at the moment is IGAD public admission of its failure.
"There are simply enormous problems between both sides. I don’t think the two leaders of South Sudan [Kiir and Machar] will sign any agreement that IGAD and the international community would want them to sign. They seem to be looking for a deal that fit their own interests," the source said.
“I can tell you that IGAD has already suspended the negotiations and asked the African Union (AU) to either intervene or come up with an idea,” he revealed.
Fighting broke out in Mid-December 2013 between different units of presidential guards after months of political chaos among senior leaders of the SPLM.
President Kiir has accused Dr. Machar of planning a coup. Machar denied the accusation and said the coup allegation is deliberate act by Kiir in an attempt to try to purge his political rivals.
At least two million South Sudanese have fled their homes and tens of thousands of people have been killed.