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The Observer - America piles pressure on Machar, Kiir
Sunday, 29 December 2013 23:24
Reik Machar
As fighting threatens to empty out entire populations in parts of South Sudan, regional leaders in Africa are stepping up efforts to mediate a political solution to the fighting that threatens to tear up Africa's newest nation.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta who is also the chair of the East African Community and Hailemariam Desalegn, the current, chairperson of the African Union, are leading the push for dialogue, to end the political tensions between Riek Machar, the former vice president and President Salva Kiir that have erupted into violence, raising the possibility of civil war and ethnic cleansing.
The conflict which was touted by Kiir as an attempted coup on Sunday night, December 15, 2013, in Juba has since spread to many parts of the country, mainly in Jonglei, and and the oil-rich Unity and Upper Nile states. South Sudan's government at the weekend committed to a ceasefire. The eastern African body Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) said President Kiir agreed to an "immediate cessation of hostilities."
Rebecca Garang, widow of the founder of SPLM and first President of South Sudan Dr John Garang, and rebel leader Machar spoke separately in interviews with BBC about the fluid situation in the world's newest nation.
Machar said he is constantly appraised about the situation in Juba, the capital, and that he is also in constant telephone contact with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Susan Rice, the national security advisor.
Edward Ssekika transcribed the interviews. Excerpts below:
RIEK MACHAR reacts to Friday's Nairobi peace talks.....
First all, when the proposal for talks was made, I expressed my readiness to attend the peace talks and I will compose my delegation. As for the ceasefire, the ceasefire needs to be monitored. My position is that, a ceasefire should be negotiated so that a mechanism is put in place to monitor it.
Secondly, I have told the mediators that for talks to start, Salva Kiir should release all the political detainees, who are SPLM leaders. I'm not yet sure whether Salva Kiir has released the detainees.
But US envoys say South Sudan released most of the political detainees you are talking about...
Well, I had a discussion yesterday [Thursday, December 26], twice on telephone with the US secretary of state John Kerry, and also Dr Suzan Rice, the national security advisor, and I strongly said that all the detainees who were detained on charges that there is a coup, be released before we talk substantive issues, which are contentious in the SPLM.
If Salva Kiir is saying that he is ready for a ceasefire, isn't it appropriate for you to do the same and then resolve others issues after a ceasefire has been achieved?
I got involved many times in negotiating ceasefires, my knowledge of it, is that a ceasefire is negotiated by two delegations and the mechanism for monitoring the ceasefires are put in place, so that a ceasefire becomes a credible ceasefire.
Are you saying that as things stand, you will continue to fight?
That is not what I'm saying, what I'm saying is that matters of ceasefire are always left to the delegation and for the ceasefire to be credible there is need for a mechanism or else we will be deceiving ourselves.
Are you confident that if all the political detainees are released and a monitoring mechanism put in place, all the elements in the opposition will agree with you if you ordered a ceasefire and respect your leadership?
The truth is, they are all under my leadership, though we have been engaging forces loyal to Salva Kiir, all of them are under my leadership. So, if there is a ceasefire or cessation of hostilities and the mechanism is put in place, they will agree.
Don't you think that the conflict is destructive with nothing to be achieved?
I personally didn't think that this issue [fighting] would happen again in my lifetime, and I also feel responsible for it. We are in contact with secretary of state John Kerry; we are also in contact with the White House.
Are you updated on the release of political detainees?
I'm up to date, I know two of the political detainees were released today [Friday] and I have just spoken to them and the rest are still under detention.
Can you tell what you control?
Unity state [part of the time], Upper Nile state, Jonglei state, the whole of it except some few areas…
Can we know where you are speaking from?
Well, I'm speaking from the bush. I love my country, I love South Sudan, I spent my youth fighting for it so that it becomes an independent republic, I would like to see a democratic and prosperous nation. I also don't like war.
Is the conflict in South Sudan, a tribal conflict between two men who want power?
No, you are mistaken. To me it is not a tribal conflict, this is a second liberation. We want South Sudan, a democratic nation, with free people with elections which are free and fair, a multi party democracy, where power is transferred through the ballot box.
So, it is not a tribal conflict. Those people who Salva Kiir arrested and detained are not from one tribe and they are not from one region.
Rebecca Garanga
Do you agree with the president that there was a coup aimed at toppling him from power?
I don't agree with the president that there was a coup and I have said this over and over. But there is a power struggle between him and Dr Riek Machar, and he [Dr Machar] said this when he was still the vice president of the Republic of South Sudan.
But what happened on Sunday night, December 15 was not a coup. It was something which started in his headquarters [Presidential Palace], like a mutiny and it engulfed all other places. Maybe some of the forces loyal to Dr Machar, were not happy with what was going on and it caught fire so fast, that people didn't know.
So, I don't think it was a coup, because like the group of people who were arrested [accused of plotting the coup] couldn't stage a coup and then go to their rooms and sleep. I'm one of the people who was also accused, but I cannot do that and then go to my room and sleep.
Do you think the president was simply misled?
The president has been misled by people around him, people who wanted to get hold of other people by accusing them of staging a coup. I can't name the people, but they are around him [President Kiir].
You are not in the country at the moment, I don't know why? But is the President listening to you?
That's why there is a problem, because if he was listening, then, we would not have any problem, because there are many advisors around him. As a presidential advisor, I have withheld my advice for almost a year now and I let him know.
I told him that because I was not doing any good, so what I will do is to go and farm. I was at my farm last year and this year, the floods have spoilt my farm, but he knows that I'm not happy with the way things are going in the South.
The level of human rights abuses, and many other things in Juba. I put it across to him to know that I was not happy. So it is not new for him, that I was opposing what is going on in Juba.
How optimistic are you about these talks, can they bring a ceasefire?
I can't afford not to be optimistic because we are people who have lived in a crisis for many years. I'm very optimistic, I'm very happy with the regional involvement, so that they can see how the situation can be arrested and people of South Sudan can go back to normal life.
So, the involvement of the region is very important, because the CPA [Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the war] was born here in the region. This 'baby' South Sudan is two years old, it was born very healthy but we are the ones who are disturbing the 'baby'.
What do think Dr Garang would be telling President Salva Kiir and Dr Machar if he was alive today?
I really don't know what he would tell them because he has been not with us for eight years [He died in July 2005]. But I don't think he would be happy with the way we are handling things, because we have left the track that he left us on, we are doing things without the vision.
We have left the strategies of the movement, documents of the movement and even the document of the land [constitution] is serving one person. I think, he wouldn't be happy as a human being but not only him but also those people who died for the cause of this country, would not be happy for what we are doing today, and they will condemn us for what we are doing today.
ssekika@observer.ug
http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29346:america-piles-pressure-on-machar-kiir&catid=78:topstories&Itemid=116
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