DM has much to say about this one. I will just walk away and you all digest it. I cant fracking believe this though. It is going to be a sleepless week. ----------------------------- The peace negotiations between the South Sudan government and the rebels have once again collapsed over disagreement over what is known as the “security matrix.” The rebellion against the government of President Salva Kiir in South Sudan in December entered a decisive stage with the insurgents’ leadership setting fresh demands including the head of state stepping down from office to face a war crimes tribunal. But the most contentious demand is the formation of two armies. During their meeting at Pagak this month, Dr Riek Machar and the leadership of his insurgents, demanded “two separate armies until when elections are conducted.” The rebel leadership insisted that to end war, these two armies (rebels and government forces) “will both enjoy the same benefits, privileges and services from the day the permanent ceasefire is signed.” Kiir had previously spoken out on this demand, saying he cannot allow the presence of two armies in a country. Sources in the neighbouring Ethiopian city of Addis Ababa where the talks have been taking place told Chimpreports on Sunday night that both sides failed to settle on a common position on the crucial security factor. Presidential sources said Machar is “playing another trick once again to topple president Kiir. You can’t have your own army within a national army. If he is committed to peace, the rebels will undertake fresh courses of patriotism and military service before being reintegrated into the mainstream army or else we will fight them.” During meetings at the end of last week, sources say, government officials assured the rebel delegation that they would not accept Machar’s rebels to serve as government soldiers. “If you want us to sign a peace deal with you, you must forget about maintaining another army within our armed forces. That will not happen,” a top leader of the delegation was quoted as saying. Machar’s adherents propose a joint defence board co-chaired by the General Chiefs of Staff of the two armies. The document signed at Pagak reads in part: “There shall be the joint amalgamated units composed of presidential guards (Leadership Protection Unit), National Security, Police and Correctional Services. The Presidential Guards shall be responsible for the protection of the leadership of the country, foreign dignitaries and diplomats. All state capitals and major towns in the country shall be demilitarised.” The mediator, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in November sent both parties home to consult on the two security proposals of integrating the two antagonistic forces or maintaining two armies with parallel centers of command in the world`s youngest nation with a population of only 13 million. The conflicting parties however returned without a single agreement, forcing IGAD to adjourn talks till January 7 when the Juba regime under President Salva Kiir and his deputy turned rival Dr. Riek Machar now leading the rebel movement, are returning to the dialogue table. “We failed to agree on the co-existence of two armies and there was nothing much to continue with. We are told to get back on 7th January next year,” a source told this website by telephone from Addis Ababa. The SPLA- IO Chairman committee on information and national relations, Mabior Garang de Mabior who is also the son of SPLA founder father, Dr. John Garang, said in November that his group accepting to integrate with government forces is surrender in disguise. “Anything short of two armies during the interim period is surrender in disguise…rejecting such a proposal is an indication of (not only lack of seriousness) but lack of a concrete understanding of the conflict itself,” Mabior said in November. He further cited the precedence of two armies during the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Kenya during talks between then SPLA rebels and the Khartoum government which resolved to have both Sudanese national army and South Sudan’s. “The precedent for two armies has already been set by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. It would be of great benefit to the Republic of South Sudan to apply the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005…to the new realities faced by our people who have suffered more under their own leadership than under Arab Imperial occupation.” The government side also in November vehemently rejected the idea of having two armies saying rebels want to buy time and opportunity to ask for a referendum like it happened in 2005 and eventually fragment the world`s youngest nation . “The people`s elected government leadership has resolved that the country will have one army under one command. Rebels want to ask for a referendum in the event of Peace Talks and we are not ready to accept that,” the Defense minister Kuol Manyang told journalists in Juba in November after the government consultation. Mr. Kuol also added that only the original SPLA members, who defected to the rebel side when the war broke out, are going to be reintegrated while those who joined rebels after are not going to be accepted. chimpreports/south-sudan-peace-talks-disintegrate/
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 05:06:33 +0000
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