South Sudan: Ateny Wek Ateny - 'It Is the People of South Sudan Who Decide'

interview

The leaders of three East African nations have been visiting South Sudan to discuss the peace process in the war-torn nation.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ugandan Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda met South Sudan's President Salva Kiir in Juba on Wednesday.

The talks came just two days after Kiir and his rival former Vice President Riek Machar accepted mutual responsibility for ten months of fighting in a declaration signed in Arusha, Tanzania on Monday. Previous deals between the two have crumbled within days. Thousands have been killed in the hostilities which erupted in December 2013 and almost two million have fled their homes.

How close is South Sudan to peace?

The parties came up with a declaration that will actually pave the way for the fragmented SPLM leadership to be reunited once again, if the agreement is signed in Addis Ababa. I can say that - based on the Arusha agreement and on the breakthrough that happened in Bahir Dar in the fifth session of the IGAD peace process. If the rebels are now able to accept the basis of negotiation for power sharing, then the breakthrough is likely to be achieved.

You mentioned the Arusha Declaration - there you agreed to reunite the divided ruling party. What will this mean for President Salva Kiir?

The declaration talked about the SPLM coming together - to pave the way for conventions which will actually be the determining factor for the leadership of the SPLM. It is not for the Arusha Declaration to talk about the future of President Salva Kiir as the chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, but it is the people and the members of the SPLM in a convention that will decide on the leadership of President Salva Kiir.

Do you think that this will work in South Sudan?

All the things that happened in the eyes of the people of South Sudan - these are the processes that will be decided by the South Sudanese themselves.

You say that it is the people of South Sudan who are going to decide, or who should decide, if they do, or do not, want this or that. But the people who are fighting - they are not the South Sudanese but rather Salva Kiir and Riek Machar. What would you say about this?

That's not true, my dear, because these are the leaders of the people. President Salva Kiir was elected by the people of South Sudan. We are a democratic country. Should people decide to vote for someone else in the next election, then President Salva Kiir will leave power. But if the people of South Sudan still support President Salva Kiir, then President Salva Kiir is not alone.

Machar was vice president to Salva Kiir and as vice president he was running mate to the president during the 2010 election. So you cannot say it is Salva Kiir and Riek Machar that are making the war. It is the war that has divided the people of South Sudan. So it is the people of South Sudan who decide at the end of the day.

Was it wrong of the international comnmunity to insist that Preisdent Salva Kiir and Riek Machar sit down at a table and discuss these things. Should it have been done differently?

The role of the international community is very much appreciated in South Sudan. We cannot do without it - we are not an island. So the role of the international community is correct. But what we do say is that it is equally important that all exercise of the role of international community has to be in conjunction with the people of South Sudan, realizing that they also need peace and it is they who will eventually bring peace to South Sudan.

Ateny Wek Ateny is a spokesman for South Sudan's President Salva Kiir