KHARTOUM, Sudan — South Sudanese rebels refused on Tuesday to sign the latest draft of a peace deal that would have ended a devastating civil war, a new setback in the five-year conflict.
President Salva Kiir and the leader of the main rebel group, Riek Machar, signed a cease-fire and power-sharing agreement earlier this month, having reached a preliminary deal in June that intended to end the fighting that first broke out in 2013.
But Mr. Machar and another rebel group refused on Tuesday to sign the latest draft of the agreement, saying that disputes over power sharing and a new constitution had not been sufficiently addressed.
“This is an unfortunate development that will not reflect well on the impartiality of the mediators and will throw doubt onto the whole process,” the rebels said in a statement.
Sudan has brokered talks between Mr. Kiir and various rebel groups this year, and its foreign minister, Al-Dirdiri Mohamed, continued to hold out hope that the new obstacles could be overcome.
“We hope that the sides which did not make the final signature today will sign in due course,” he said, but added, “It’s not possible to achieve peace without the participation of Machar.”
But, he said, the opposition’s refusal to sign meant that the current efforts had come to an end, Agence France-Presse reported. “This was the last round of negotiation,” he said.
Previous deals aimed at bringing peace to South Sudan have collapsed, including a similar accord reached two years ago, and the news that this agreement was in doubt will not come as a surprise, especially now that the war has grown increasingly complex.
The civil war erupted in 2013, less than two years after South Sudan gained independence from Sudan. Fueled by personal and ethnic rivalries, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced an estimated quarter of South Sudan’s population of 12 million and ruined the country’s economy, which heavily relies on crude oil production.
Mr. Kiir’s army and Mr. Machar’s rebel group have been accused of war crimes. According to a report from the United Nations, both sides may have engaged in crimes against humanity.
The secession of South Sudan also took a heavy toll on the economy of Sudan, which lost most of the region’s oil reserves. President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan said this month, just after Mr. Kiir and Mr. Machar signed the Aug. 5 cease-fire agreement, that oil would be pumped to Sudan from the Wahda region in South Sudan, beginning in September.
The two countries agreed in June to repair within three months oil infrastructure facilities that had been destroyed by the war, an effort to increase production, and said a joint force would be established to protect oil fields from attacks.
South Sudan has trumpeted breakthroughs in the talks, but the United States, which backed South Sudan’s independence, has taken a more skeptical view about the prospects for peace.
The Trump administration said last month that it doubted that Mr. Kiir and Mr. Machar possessed the leadership qualities needed to deliver peace, adding that it would impose new sanctions on anyone who threatened South Sudan’s stability.
Source : Nytimes
