South Sudanese President Salva Kiir arrived in Ethiopia’s capital on Friday to meet rebel leader Riek Machar under growing international pressure for an end to ethnic fighting that has raised fears of genocide.
The talks in Addis Ababa will be the first since the outset of a nearly five-month conflict during which both government forces and rebels have committed crimes against humanity, according to the United Nations.
Cranking up pressure on two leaders who have been embroiled in a long power struggle, the European Union threatened sanctions against anyone blocking peacemaking and a deal on reforms to tackle endemic poverty and disorder.
The United States earlier this week slapped sanctions on two commanders on opposing sides of the conflict, a sign of the United States’ growing frustration with leaders in Africa’s youngest country that Washington helped win its independence.
Western diplomats say negotiating an end to the fighting is a priority. The Juba government announced on Wednesday it had ordered the army to suspend attacks on rebels under the terms of an agreed “month of tranquility.”
But a rebel spokesman said there could be no talk of a proper ceasefire until a deal laying out the path towards an interim government was agreed.
“The government has been speaking about a ceasefire. But you cannot have a ceasefire without a solution firmly in place,” Hussein Mar Nyot, a spokesman for Machar’s delegation, told Reuters in Addis Ababa.
“A roadmap must be agreed upon at this meeting.”
The meeting between Kiir and Machar was to be held later on Friday at Ethiopia’s presidential palace.
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