{South Sudan President Salva Kiir and rebel chief Riek Machar show little interest in making a deal to end months of fighting that has brought the nation to the brink of “man-made” famine, U.N. Security Council envoys said during a visit to East Africa.}
Clashes in December between soldiers loyal to Kiir and supporters of his former deputy Machar plunged the oil-producing country back into conflict, less than three years after its hard-won independence from former civil war foe Sudan.
Kiir and Machar signed a ceasefire in May in Addis Ababa and agreed to form an interim government within 60 days but that deadline expired on Aug 10 as talks stalled. Diplomats say both sides violated the truce, though negotiations continue.
Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who along with other Security Council envoys visited South Sudan this week and talked to both Kiir and Machar, said the Council had warned the rival sides about tougher sanctions.
“There is no way President Kiir or Riek Machar could have left those meetings with the Security Council unclear about the determination of the Council to take further measures if they did not seize this moment and choose compromise and choose peace,” Power told Reuters late on Wednesday.
The United States and European Union have slapped sanctions on military commanders from both sides and on Wednesday, Washington warned it may impose further measures.
Asked if the delegation felt Kiir and Machar had shown appetite for a peace deal, Power said: “We left the meeting with hope, I don’t think any of us left the meeting with confidence.”
Reuters
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