South Sudan says hopes to push for direct talks between warring Sudanese parties

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir dissolved parliament in May, paving the way for an expanded and more inclusive legislature of 550 members (Image: REUTERS/Jok Solomu)

South Sudan has said it hopes to use the recently extended ceasefire agreement in Sudan to push for face-to-face talks between the warring parties.

Deng Dau Deng, acting minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, said on Friday that President Salva Kiir has already held talks with Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) who accepted direct talks with his rival Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

“We hope that this particular ceasefire will have an impact on the lives of Sudanese people, those who are in Khartoum and those who are outside. We are hoping that then the attention will shift to how to get face-to-face talks because war cannot be won on the battlefield,” Deng told foreign diplomats in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, during a briefing on the situation in neighbouring Sudan.

On April 17, the regional body Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) appointed Kiir to lead ceasefire negotiations in Sudan alongside Kenyan President William Ruto and Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh, Xinhua news agency reported.

Deng said that South Sudan’s experience has shown that foreign interference complicates conflict.

“Our position is that Sudanese are capable of resolving their internal differences.”

South Sudan has so far received about 16,000 people fleeing fighting since violence erupted in Sudan on April 15 between the SAF and the RSF.

Deng said due to the ever-rising number of people crossing into South Sudan across the border with Sudan, Juba is talking to partners on how to allocate returnees and refugees to different parts of the country to avoid congestion.

He added that in the Bahr El Ghazal region alone, about 500 people arrive daily from the 12 border crossing points with Sudan.