Nations Urge South Sudan President To Sign Peace Agreement

     United States government said president Kiir should join the rebel leader, Machar, by signing the peace agreement to end the 20-month long civil war in the country.


The United States deeply regrets that the government of South Sudan chose not to sign an agreement that was supported by all of the states in the IGAD plus, the troika - the United States, United Kingdom and Norway, China, the African Union and the United Nations today," said spokesman of the US State Department, John Kirby, in a statement issued on Tuesday.
We call on the government to sign the agreement within the 15-day period it requested for consultations," it urged.

President Kiir stormed out of the venue on Monday, refusing to sign the peace agreement and later on only accepted to initial it as a witness. He asked for 15 days to consult again with his officials in Juba despite earlier previous consultations granted to him on the same proposal.
US said the document which the former vice president, Machar, signed on 17 August must also be signed by the South Sudanese president Kiir within the timeframe he requested from IGAD Plus mediation, warning of severe consequences should he refuse to sign it.

As the president [Barack Obama] has stated, if there was no agreement signed today, we would consider ways to raise the cost for intransigence, Kirby said, adding we would “work with our regional and international partners on next steps and on ways to increase pressure, especially against those that are undermining the peace process or opposing this agreement”.

From London, Tobias Ellwood, member of the British parliament, who represented his government on Monday called on the South Sudanese leader to sign the IGAD Plus proposed peace agreement and for all parties to implement it.

Speaking following the summit hosted by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Addis Ababa, he hailed the rebel leader, Machar, for signing the deal in commitment to end the war.

I welcome the progress made at the summit on South Sudan on 17 August, with the signature of a peace agreement by the opposition and other South Sudanese parties,” Ellwood said.