AU pushes for South Sudan’s peace agreement endorsement

The Rwandan President Paul Kagame received the African Union’s (AU) High Representative to South Sudan Alpha Oumar Konare who came to Kigali to discuss about ongoing efforts dedicated to push for reaching a peace-deal agreement between South Sudanese government and different rebel groups, an official source revealed in Kigali. In his message, the Rwandan leader commended special AU envoy’s willingness to contribute to the search for peace and stability in South Sudan after last week’s failed negotiations between four rival groups: the government of South Sudan led by president, Salva Kiir, the armed opposition led by Riek Machar, the former detainees led by Pagan Amum, and the civil society organisations and political parties inside South Sudan. The conflict which southerners denied to have taken any ethnic colour, left thousands dead and over a million displaced and refugees. But an African Union probe led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, suggested that massacres were carried out along ethnic lines. Although the rebels are urging the African Union to release the probe, the AU says if a peace deal was reached there would be no need, save that of healing and reconciliation to make it public. The visit of AU special envoy in Rwanda, comes a few days after South Sudan President Salva Kiir had decided to skip negotiations table on August 17. Although details of the discussions were not made public, Xinhua gathered that the AU envoy and Rwandan leaders appealed for calm and admonished both parties to return back to negotiation table to fully endorse a peace deal brokered by the east African block Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD). It is said that the IGAD worked out a detailed 75-page document which it has been working on since January this year, but the parties have failed to agree on the final version. “While consulting regional leaders, we hope to reach a comprehensive peace agreement between leading protagonists in South Sudan,” Konare told reporters shortly after meeting President Paul Kagame in Kigali. It is expected that the fresh round of talks will resume under a new IGAD plus initiative which will incorporate the African Union, the UN, EU, China, the Troika (UK, US, Norway) as well as five African countries (South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Chad, and Rwanda). KIGALI NAMPA/XINHUA