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U.S. Senator John Kerry: South Sudan Peace Talks Must Not be a Gimmick

U.S. Senator John Kerry: South Sudan Peace Talks Must Not be a Gimmick

From AFP
Peace talks between South Sudan’s warring factions must not be a “gimmick” to gain the upper hand on the ground, US secretary of state John Kerry said yesterday.
“Both parties need to put the interest of South Sudan above their own,” Kerry told reporters in Jerusalem.

“Negotiations have to be serious, they cannot be a delay, a gimmick,” in order to win military advantage, he said, adding that leaders must have “courage, resolve and clear intent to find a political solution.”

Face-to-face peace talks between South Sudan’s warring factions were due to begin in earnest on Sunday, with artillery fire in Juba’s government district underlining the risk of a slide into all-out civil war.

The talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa are aimed at ending three weeks of fighting that are feared to have killed thousands in the world’s newest nation.

The conflict erupted on 15 December, pitting army units loyal to President Salva Kiir against a loose alliance of ethnic militia and mutinous army commanders nominally headed by his rival, former vice president Riek Machar.

Read more at AFP