South Sudan president slams peace deal as ‘divisive, unprecedented’; but still bent on implementing it

Salva Kiir (South Sudanese President) said his government will implement an agreement aimed at ending almost two years of civil war ravaging the region, despite it being one of the most divisive accords in the nation’s history.

President Kiir signed the accord, mediated by Intergovernmental Authority on Development, on August 26 after the US proposed imposing sanctions if he failed to meet a September 1 deadline to end violence that has killed tens of thousands of people.

“The IGAD-prescribed peace document is the most divisive and unprecedented document seen in the history of our country,” Kiir said Tuesday in a speech in the capital, Juba. “I am now ready to implement this agreement in order to overcome the humanitarian challenges facing our country.”

Fighting erupted in the oil-producing nation in December 2013 between government forces and rebels after Kiir accused Riek Machar, his former deputy, of plotting to topple him. Machar signed the peace accord the week before Kiir.

But the deal has shown signs of creaking, despite having been signed under the keen eye of an international community that had grown weary of the lack of movement.

On Monday, the military said it repelled a fresh rebel attack. Army spokesman Philip Aguer said rebels attacked government positions close to the key town of Malakal, capital of Upper Nile state early Monday, but the army “repulsed them, and the situation was now calm.”

Members of the rebel 'White Army'

He also said that large numbers of militia fighters, from the ethnic Nuer “White Army” force, were “massing south of Malakal preparing for an attack.”

The army and rebels have repeatedly accused each other of breaking the latest ceasefire deal, the eighth of such agreement to have been signed since war broke out.