South Sudan: Warring Sides Go Into Round Two of Peace Talks

Peace talks for South Sudan resumed Tuesday after mediators assured opposition negotiators that their colleagues who were detained when South Sudan plunged into violence will be allowed to attend the talks in Addis Ababa.

An opening ceremony for the second round of the talks was held late Tuesday in Addis Ababa.

Both the government of South Sudan and Toby Lanzer, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, said in separate tweets that the talks had resumed.

The official opening of the second round of peace talks will take place shortly at the Hilton hotel in Addis Ababa #SouthSudan

- Gov of South Sudan (@RepSouthSudan) February 10, 2014

Good news from Addis: the second round of talks on #SouthSudan have begun. I wish the negotiators well. Reconciliation & peace are vital.

- Toby Lanzer (@tobylanzer) February 11, 2014

At the talks' opening ceremony, the lead mediator for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Ethiopian diplomat Seyoum Mesfin, had harsh words for the two sides in the conflict, which has claimed thousands of lives and forced nearly one million people from their homes.

Seyoum said the writing was on the wall that "things were not going well" in South Sudan, but the country's leaders failed to take action.

"The gaps between the demands of the people on the one hand and what the government was able to deliver was wide," Seyoum said.

"Disillusionment with corruption and inadequate governance was high. The leadership failed to see this and to respond with a coherent policy and visible commitment to address the issues of peace, security and development in a coordinated way," he said.

The talks appeared to be in jeopardy until the last minute as opposition negotiators said they would not take part unless certain conditions were met.

The key pre-conditions that they set was that political detainees whose release was supposed to be expedited by all sides after the first round of talks, were allowed to attend, and that foreign forces pull out of South Sudan.