South Sudan President Salva Kiir signed a peace accord yesterday to end 20 months of civil war. The signing ceremony, held in the capital, Juba, in the presence of regional leaders, came hours after the UN Security Council threatened immediate action if Kiir failed to put his name to the accord, which has already been signed by rebel leader Riek Machar.
"The current peace deal we are signing today has so many things we have to reject," Kiir said at the ceremony. "Such reservations if ignored would not be in the interests of just and lasting peace."
Although a list of his concerns was handed out, the deal was welcomed by regional leaders, including Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who had sent in troops to back Kiir's forces. Under the deal, they now have 45 days to leave.
"It is not a Bible, it is not the Koran, why should it not be revisited?" Kiir said of the deal. "Let us give ourselves time and see how we can correct these things," he added. He also warned that the deal might not last.
The deal - backed by the regional eight-nation bloc IGAD, as well as the UN, the African Union, China and the "troika" of Britain, Norway and the US - commits both sides to end fighting and implement a "permanent ceasefire" within 72 hours.
The deal also gives the rebels the post of first vice-president, which means that rebel chief Machar would likely return to the job from which he was sacked in July 2013, an event which put the country on the path to war later that year.
Machar had already signed the deal on August 17 but at the time Kiir only initialled part of the text. His government then slammed the accord as a "sellout" and said it needed more time for consultations.
But on Tuesday the UN Security Council piled fresh pressure on Kiir to sign it, warning it would "act immediately" if he did not.
Machar remained in Ethiopia however, with mediators saying security measures were not in place for him to travel to Juba.
Source: Times
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