South Sudan rebel delegation and government begin talks in Juba

Ceasefire monitors in South Sudan welcomed the first meeting of rebel and government representatives in the capital today aimed at ending the civil war but warned of “empty gestures”.

President Salva Kiir and rebel chief Riek Machar have repeatedly accused each other of breaking successive peace deals but say they remain committed to the August 26 agreement, despite missing every listed deadline.

On Monday, an advance team of rebel delegates arrived in Juba, tasked with beginning the formation of a transitional government of national unity — but did not include Mr Machar.

“There is scepticism in many quarters that peace has really come, and there are understandable doubts, that can only be addressed by meaningful action,” said Mr Festus Mogae, who heads the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), set up by the regional IGAD-bloc to ensure the peace deal is implemented.

“Your return indicates the commitment you have to restoring peace and implementing the agreement... Your return is not the end of the road, but the start of another important journey.”

Civil war began in December 2013 when Mr Kiir accused his former deputy Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that have split the poverty-stricken country along ethnic lines.

Delegates at an earlier meeting held a minute’s silence for the tens of thousands killed since war broke out in December 2013.

“Let that not be an empty gesture for the cameras,” Mr Mogae said, a former president of Botswana.

Fighting continues, and the conflict now involves multiple militia forces who pay little heed to paper peace deals, driven by local agendas or revenge attacks.

“It is my sincere hope that this Christmas, 2015, is the last celebrated in a context of conflict,” said Mogae.

Both sides are 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.

The conflict has triggered a humanitarian crisis with 2.3 million people forced from their homes and 4.6 million in need of emergency food. Tens of thousands have died and the economy is in ruins.

Presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told UN radio the two sides are, “going to be peace partners instead of war partners.”

“The people of South Sudan will realise that the peace has come... this is a good beginning for South Sudan,” Mr Ateny said. The team travelled from the rebel-held east of South Sudan into Ethiopia before flying to Juba.

The August deal stipulated beginning of a transitional period and withdrawal of all military forces within a 25km radius of the capital city Juba within 90 days since the signing of the agreement.