South Sudan rebel leader sets out conditions for talks

South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar says he is ready to negotiate with President Salva Kiir to bring an end to the nine-day conflict if Mr Kiir first releases his detained political allies.

The US special envoy to South Sudan, Donald Booth, said Mr Kiir was committed to opening talks with Mr Machar.

Information minister Michael Makuei immediately dismissed the demands made by Mr Machar, who was South Sudan’s vice-president until Mr Kiir sacked him in July. “There is no way we will release anybody who is accused of a coup d’etat,” Mr Makuei said yesterday. He also dismissed Mr Machar’s claims that his rebels have taken over all the major oil fields in Unity and Upper Nile states as “wishful thinking”.

Hours before meeting Mr Booth, Mr Kiir vowed to attack the rebel-held Jonglei State capital Bor, amid deepening fears that the conflict is provoking broader ethnic bloodletting.

“President Kiir committed to me that he was ready to begin talks with Riek Machar to end the crisis without preconditions as soon as his counterpart is willing,” Mr Booth told reporters.

Western powers and east African states, which want to prevent the fighting from destabilising a fragile African region, have tried to mediate between Machar, who hails from the Nuer tribe, and Kiir, a Dinka.

So far however their efforts have been fruitless as clashes which started in Juba on December 15th entered their second week, reaching the country’s vital oil fields and destabilising a state which won independence from Sudan only in 2011.

Hundreds of people have been killed, with reports of summary executions and ethnically targeted killings.

Diplomats said the UN Security Council was likely to approve a request by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon for another 5,000 peacekeepers to be sent to the world’s newest country.

Rebel leader Mr Machar told Reuters from “the bush” that he had spoken to US national security adviser Susan Rice and UN envoy Hilde Johnson about trying to end fighting that has killed hundreds of people and driven thousands from their homes.

“My message was let Salva Kiir release my comrades who are under detention and let them be evacuated to Addis Ababa and we can start dialogue straight away . . . ”

Listed for release
Among those Mr Machar listed should be released were Pagan Amum – a chief negotiator during the recent oil shutdown with Sudan, which hosts the sole oil export pipeline; and Rebecca de Mabior, the widow of former South Sudanese leader John Garang.

“They are criminals who must be brought to the books, so there is no way we can negotiate with him [Machar]. We are only ready to negotiate with him unconditionally,” Mr Makuei said.

He also dismissed Mr Machar’s suggestion for the peace talks to be held in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, insisting they should be held in Juba.

Joe Contreras, the United Nations spokesman in South Sudan, said the UN was now sheltering about 42,000 civilians across South Sudan and would not leave the country despite worsening security situation.

Two Indian peacekeepers and at least 11 Dinka civilians were killed last week in an attack by about 2,000 armed youths from another ethnic group on a UN peacekeeping base in Jonglei state.

Both Mr Machar and Mr Kiir have denied opposing claims that they are stoking ethnic tensions in a country boasting many tribes but where the Nuer, and in particular the Dinka, are dominant. However many of the people seeking shelter inside sprawling UN compounds say the conflict is certainly ethnically based. The US says it is repositioning its forces in Africa as the US military prepares for the possibility of further evacuations of US and other citizens from South Sudan.

US ambassador Donald Booth, who met Mr Kiir in Juba, said the pair had very frank and open dialogue about the problems facing South Sudan and discussed ways the US and the international community can bring the country “back from the precipice”.

Earlier in the day Mr Kiir told parliament that government troops were ready to attack Bor, where about 17,000 people were seeking refuge at a UN compound. Mr Makuei said government troops were also looking to take back Unity State capital Bentiu.

Toby Lanzer, the UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator in South Sudan, said on a recent visit to Bor that many humanitarian compounds had been looted: “There was a lot of looting, a lot of gunshots and a lot of dead bodies.” – (Reuters)