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South Sudan faction declares ceasefire to honour Addis talks

Tuesday December 19 2017
Taban

South Sudan first Vice President Taban Deng Gai. The SPLA-IO leader says that the forces had been instructed to cease hostilities during the talks in Addis Ababa. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION

By JOSEPH ODUHA

South Sudan's SPLA-In Opposition (SPLA-IO) has announced a ceasefire as talks on the revitalisation of the peace agreement continue in Ethiopia.

Faction leader and First Vice-President Taban Deng Gai said the forces had been instructed to cease hostilities during the talks in Addis Ababa.

SPLA-IO spokesman Dickson Gatluak said all their units across the country had been told to suspend military operations.

Similar orders

He said the forces in Jonglei, Upper Nile and Equatoria had been instructed to remain in their respective stations in honour of the peace talks.

Colonel Gatluak urged the other warring parties to also issue similar orders of restraint to all their forces to give peace a chance.

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“The other armed forces like the groups led by (Riek) Machar, General (Thomas) Cirilo and others have to make sure they cease the hostilities,” he added.

The SPLA faction under the direct command of President Salva Kiir and those of Dr Machar clashed recently in Upper Nile, despite the impending peace talks.

The South Sudanese factions Monday resumed talks under the Igad High Level Revitalisation Forum.

The talks follow the failure of the August 2015 peace agreement to end the war that has engulfed the country since independence in 2011.

Rights abuses

The conflict ensued following a political quarrel between President Kiir and Dr Machar in 2013.

The war has claimed more than 100,000 lives, mostly of children and women, according to the International Crisis Group.

President Kiir recently apologised for the human rights abuses committed during the war.

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