Washington, DC, March 14, 2015 (SSNA) — The Enough Project has written an open letter to United Stated secretary of State John Kerry, urging him to fully participate directly in the upcoming IGAD-mediated peace negotiations.
The call comes ten days after peace talks between South Sudan’s warring factions collapsed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
“The Enough Project stands with others in the NGO community who urge Secretary Kerry to participate directly in the IGAD Plus initiative’s mediation process. Secretary Kerry’s personal involvement in past diplomatic efforts related to South Sudan have helped move the ball forward and have been well-received,” the statement reads in part.
The document suggests that intelligence gathering should focus mainly on tracing assets of people who have hands in the atrocities committed and those who stand in the way of peace.
“An intelligence gathering surge – focused on tracing the assets of those most responsible for mass atrocities and senior officials on both sides of South Sudan’s conflict who obstruct a peace deal – would support the full implementation of the sanctions called for in UN Security Council Resolution 2206,” it added.
The US-based agency which advocates for preventing of future crises and genocides also calls on South Sudan’s peace mediators who are currently drafting the document for next round of talks to add timetable for all foreign forces to leave the war-torn nation.The Enough Project further calls for the release of African Union Commission of Inquiry report.
“Beyond power and wealth sharing issues, which currently preoccupy the warring parties, the draft agreement being prepared by the mediators should also address a timetable for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the country, punitive measures for the delivery of arms that stoke the conflict, and a timetable for the release of the AU Commission of Inquiry report accompanied by a commitment to establish a hybrid court to end impunity for human rights violations, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed in the past fifteen months,” the statement added.
Uganda along with several Sudanese rebel groups are fighting alongside South Sudanese government troops against rebel forces loyal to South Sudan’s Former Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar.
The rebels have on many occasions demanded the withdrawal of Ugandan soldiers, but Kampala refused asserting that Juba asked for its military help.
In the letter, the agency co-founder, John Prendergast, arguing that lack of direct participation of the US in the previous talks was not the right way to broker a peace deal between South Sudan’s rival sides.