South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has ruled out any possibility of sharing executive power with Dr Riek Machar, his former deputy who leads the SPLA faction that rebelled against his government.

This could stall the ongoing peace talks in Addis Ababa, mediated by regional leaders under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, Igad, as Dr Machar’s group has declared it will accept nothing short of the First Vice President position
In an exclusive interview with The EastAfrican at State House in Juba, President Kiir said the talks would not succeed if Igad insisted that Dr Machar becomes the First Vice President.

The talks were called to negotiate an agreement after fighting broke out in the country in December 2013. The last agreement signed on February 1, 2015, in Addis Ababa, allowed President Kiir to remain at the helm but created the position of First Vice President, to be occupied by the SPLM-in-Opposition nominee and the Second Vice President slot, to be given to the incumbent Vice President James Wani Iga.

President Kiir also wants Dr Machar’s faction labelled “coup plotters” and treated as such.

“The problem is that Igad is treating the coup plotters as innocent people who simply protested against the government, and yet they are people who wanted power through illegal means,” said President Kiir in reference to the last agreement.

“My personal position and the position of my party is that Dr Machar should not be the First Vice President, but he can come in as number three or the Second Vice President if he wants. After his proposal of executive prime minister was rejected, Dr Machar now wants to be the First Vice President, which we do not accept,” said President Kiir.

However, the SPLM-in-Opposition representative in Kenya, Adel Sandrai, says his group will not accept anything short of the post of the First Vice President, adding that the last agreement of February 1 was very clear that SPLM-in-Opposition will have the position of First Vice President.

“As far as we know, President Kiir caused the war in the country by resisting internal party reforms and purging those who fought with him from the party hierarchy. He has the responsibility to take the lead towards peace, but if he is not interested, then we will meet in the field,” said Mr Sandrai.

READ: Hope for peace in S Sudan after Arusha talks unite belligerents

After 21 years of civil war, South Sudan got Independence on July 9, 2011. But the delicate inter-ethnic coexistence started shaking in July 2013 when President Kiir sacked Dr Machar as his deputy, together with the entire Cabinet.

The current hardening of positions is likely to complicate the proposed Transitional Government of National Unity, even as the various peace committees continue with consultations in Addis Ababa for a lasting peace agreement before the March 5, 2015 deadline.

The five peace committees are; Transitional Security Arrangement, Governance, Economy, Justice and Humanitarian Affairs; and Leadership Structure.

But the Addis Ababa mediators are running out of time given that the United Nations Security Council on Thursday this week issued a draft notice for sanctions against those committing human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, including those involved in targeted killings of civilians, ethnically-targeted violence, extrajudicial killings, rape, and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, recruitment and use of children in conflict.

Signs that the Addis talks may not end well emerged when President Kiir revealed during an interview with The EastAfrican that he was pressured last August to consider the position of the prime minister by three regional leaders — Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn — despite the post not being provided for in the Constitution.

President Kiir explained that when he passed through Nairobi on his way to Washington for the US-Africa Summit in August 2014, he was asked by the three leaders to explain what he thought would be the best way to bring the conflict to an end.

“I told them that if there is to be a solution to this problem, the best thing is to appoint two vice presidents, with the First Vice President going to the incumbent and the second going to Dr Machar. But these leaders did not accept my proposal and instead proposed the position of the prime minster,” he said.

On coming back from Washington, the four again met in Juba and President Kiir says he was forced to give in to the position of the prime minster but asked them to give him a job description of a non-executive prime minister because South Sudan has never had one.

“So the special envoys of the region were given the task of finding out what non-executive prime ministers in Uganda and in Tanzania do. When these functions were brought to the table in later negotiations, Dr Machar rejected them and said that if he is not an executive prime minister, he has to be First Vice President,” said President Kiir.

The general mood among top government officials in Juba is that the Arusha Accord of January 21 that seeks to reunite the three wings of SPLM is a good springboard for peaceful negotiations but the Igad proposal offering the First Vice President position to Dr Machar is just a suggestion that must be renegotiated.

The SPLM government is maintaining a delicate balance between finding a solution as demanded by the international community and ensuring that it does not encourage future rebellions.

SPLM’s secretary-general, Dr Ann Itto, says the party realises that there is a need for give and take but giving Dr Machar the position of vice president is setting a bad precedent and is like rewarding rebellion.

“Many people are saying that it is okay for SPLM to sign an agreement to bring the rebels and former detainees home. But even if we say as SPLM that we want peace that bad, the same SPLM members are asking, ‘is it possible, for instance, for Joseph Kony to go back to Uganda and be appointed the first vice president?” she asked.

But as the SPLM in Government grapples with the way forward in the peace talks. President Kiir on Tuesday issued a decree of blanket amnesty for all those in exile, and all the anti-government forces within the country under Dr Machar.

He argued that the amnesty is in accordance with the Arusha SPLM Party Reunification Agreement and should be respected by all parties.