Advertisement

Kiir meets Museveni as Ugandan leader gives open invitation to Machar over stalled talks

Saturday August 23 2014
EAKiir2208

President Salva Kiir and Yoweri Museveni after a consultative meeting held in Kampala August 22, 2014. PHOTO | FILE

South Sudan President Salva Kiir rushed to Uganda on Friday and met President Yoweri Museveni soon after the Ugandan leader extended an invitation to his nemesis rebel leader Dr Riek Machar.

Kiir’s visit came as the Uganda government was hosting Dr Machar’s emissaries, who had four days of intensive discussions with high-level officials in the country and were set to meet Museveni by press time.

The meetings were chaired by Gen Caleb Akandwanaho, brother of President Museveni and senior presidential adviser on security and defence.

Details of the three-hour meeting between the two presidents remain scanty, but as he left Kiir remarked to a group of Ugandan MPs who were waiting at State House Entebbe to meet Museveni: “The country is at war with itself and there is no other enemy fighting but us.”

It emerged that Dr Machar’s six emissaries left Kampala with an open invitation from President Museveni to their commander calling for a meeting to discuss the stalemate in the peace process.

The team, which held a four-day closed door meeting that lasted over 10 hours each day, discussed and set an agenda for the proposed meeting between the two leaders.

Advertisement

ALSO READ: Museveni shuns Machar’s men, meets former detainees

The meeting comes at a time the Addis Ababa peace talks have stalled and the rebels say they are looking for an option to the protracted peace negotiations that have resulted in neither an enforceable ceasefire agreement nor a negotiated political settlement.

The discussions between Machar’s group and Ugandan officials also ended two days to the Sunday August 24 meeting of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development Heads of State to be held at the Palace in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, when Western countries and the UN Security Council expect the regional leaders to announce sanctions against the two warring principals.

But sources indicate that Igad heads of state are sharply divided over the issue of sanctions, and the Sunday meeting may not yield much.

READ: The status of the South Sudan mediation process

The agenda of the meeting, seen by The EastAfrican, indicates that there will be opening statements from China, Italy, The Troika, Ethiopia, the Igad Executive Secretary from 11-12 noon. Then a closed session will ensue, where a progress report on the talks will be discussed.

Sources also pointed out that this meeting comes at a time that Machar’s group has realised that victory in the war is unlikely and the reality of meeting the welfare of the soldiers is daunting.

There is also frustration and donor fatigue by Western countries, judging from the statement of Anne Richard, the US Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, who not only further urged the two parties to resume “stalled talks” but also said, “As much as Americans have funds for South Sudan, there is a limit, I think, to how much aid can be provided in a year with so many crises around the world”.

On Friday, the US Congress Committee of Foreign Affairs called on the Security Council to levy sanctions against the leaders and impose an arms embargo on South Sudan.

READ: US issues South Sudan warning as Machar loses diplomatic war

Back in Kampala, Gen Akandwanaho-chaired meeting, attended by Junior Defence Minister Jeje Odongo and four top security officials. However, the team was tightlipped about the agenda agreed upon for the leaders’ meeting.

“The two delegations discussed the security situation in South Sudan and how it can be resolved through peaceful means. They agreed to explore all possible ways to facilitate and quicken the ongoing peace process in Addis Ababa. It was also agreed that the two sides continue to have regular interactions to fast track the peace process so that South Sudan can return to normalcy,” said the government in a statement released on Thursday evening.

Sources, however, told The EastAfrican that the meeting between Museveni and Machar will “hear from Uganda its national security concerns in South Sudan are, because when Uganda went into the conflict, they went in on the pretext of a coup having taken place, but now even the Uganda government has dismissed that.

“… But the main issue that will be focused on is how to bring peace to South Sudan and the role that the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces will play.”

At the end of last week’s preparatory meeting, there seems to have been a compromise on an earlier precondition that Uganda should withdraw its troops from South Sudan before any discussion between Museveni and Machar could take place. The demand will now be discussed in the leaders’ meeting.

READ: Machar rebuffs Museveni’s overtures

“Yes, withdrawal of troops will be on the agenda. How that will be done is now a part of the discussions and what would be the impact because there is also the question of the Lord’s Resistance Army, if Uganda withdraws,” said the source.

Questions, however remain over whether the Museveni-Machar meeting will resolve the crisis, and indeed, if the Ugandan leader will drop support for Kiir and embrace Dr Machar.

Stakeholders in the war say such questions got no clear answers given the divisions within Igad, where mediation, supported by Ethiopia, has shown bias against the opposition, and in support of Kiir, with only Kenya sitting on the fence over the issue.

“President Museveni has gone so deep in his support for Kiir, the mediators are completely biased and supporting the government. The talks will not achieve much. The question now is: Will Machar take this lying down?” said a source.

What is certain is that Kiir’s intransigence is derived from Uganda’s support. Speaking to The EastAfrican, Mabior Garang de Mabior, son of South Sudan’s first president, the late John Garang, and now a member Machar’s peace negotiation team, said Uganda holds the key to the current stalemate in the peace efforts.

“The UPDF presence there in a way had a negative impact because it gives Kiir an incentive to continue the war because he has no army; and by Uganda being there, it has created intransigence on the part of Kiir,” said Mr Mabior.

Uganda’s leverage over Kiir, Mr Mabior said, could be used to force him to commit to the talks. Dr Machar’s group believes that a meeting between Museveni and their leader will end the stalemate in the peace negotiations.

“I cannot predict the future but I am hopeful that they are going to meet. They both claim they want to see peace in South Sudan so if they are both honest, they will meet and find a solution,” said Mr Mabior.

But if all fails, Mr Mabior said, “It would be the beginning of war. We have only been defending ourselves from the onslaught of the government.

“Even the chief of staff said recently that they have been provoking us to fight. The White Army and other groups had heard that their relatives have been killed and only went to rescue them, not that there is actual fighting. The only battle was in Nassir, because people said enough is enough, but we have not yet decided to fight. When we decide, that is when the war will start.”

According to the rebels, there is a force formed from soldiers, estimated at 70 per cent of the army, who defected with weapons from the national army, which could easily be organised to fight on Dr Machar’s side.

Dr Machar’s group admits that their challenge now is to control the White Army.

Advertisement