New South Sudan peace talks held to save deal

ADDIS ABABA - A new round of talks aimed at ending South Sudan's civil war was held in Ethiopia's capital on Tuesday, with mediators condemning both sides in the conflict over ongoing ceasefire violations.

The talks are aimed at revitalising an August 26 peace accord that has so far failed to end the nearly two-year-old conflict in the world's youngest nation and help resolve a major humanitarian crisis.

"The continuation of violations of the cessation of hostilities agreement is casting doubts on the parties' seriousness and commitment to end the crisis through peaceful means," mediator Seyoum Mesfin told reporters as the talks started.

Mesfin has been leading more than a year of frustrated peace efforts on behalf of the East African regional bloc IGAD. The peace process has been marked by a string of failed ceasefire deals, and the latest accord was only signed after more robust threats of international sanctions.

The latest talks have also seen the former president of Botswana, Festus Mogae, appointed to oversee the application of the first phase of the deal -- the demilitarisation of South Sudan's capital Juba.

Mediators want to make the capital safe for the return of former vice president Riek Machar, who is now the main rebel leader. The war started when President Salva Kiir accused Machar of planning a coup.

"Once Juba is cleared, we will send a high-level delegation as an advance team," rebel negotiator Taban Ndeng told reporters.

The current talks are expected to continue until October 26.

"This meeting is not to renegotiate the agreement, but rather is an exercise to find ways and means of implementing it expeditiously and in good faith," Mesfin said.

On Sunday Machar accused Kiir of ignoring and undermining the peace deal, saying violations of the internationally-brokered ceasefire had become commonplace.

Earlier this month Kiir also ordered the number of regional states be nearly tripled from the current 10 to 28, rendering an agreed power-sharing formula redundant.

International backers of the deal, including Britain, Norway and the United States, said the move "directly contradicts" the government's commitment to the peace deal, while the European Union called on Juba to "refrain from proceeding" on the reform.

There has, however, been some signs of progress on the military front.

On Tuesday South Sudan's government said Uganda, which had deployed its troops in the oil-rich country to support President Kiir, has begun the process of pulling out its soldiers.

The Ugandan soldiers are due to be replaced by a neutral force, while South Sudanese soldiers are to be relocated to barracks outside the city.

Both sides in the conflict have been accused of having perpetrated ethnic massacres, recruited and killed children and carried out widespread rape, torture and forced displacement of populations to "cleanse" areas of their opponents.

Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, the country's economy destroyed and several regions pushed to the brink of famine. Over 30 aid workers have also been killed.

South Sudan only gained independence from Khartoum in 2011 after a long and bitter civil war.

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AFP