August 10, 2015(Nyamilepedia) — Members of Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which mediates South Sudan conflict in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, have held an intensive consultations today at the Ugandan State house, Entebbe.
The meeting was attended by the Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, Sudan’s new Foreign Minister, Ibrahim Ghandour, and the host president, Yoweri Museveni.
According to the Kenyan President, the meeting was convened for the regional leaders to deliberate on South Sudan peace process.
“With President Yoweri Museveni and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn during the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) meeting on South Sudan at State House, Entebbe.” President Uhuru states.
The meeting aims to prepare the regional leaders on how to react if the South Sudanese leaders fail to meet the next dateline in seven days.
Insiders, however, revealed that the host president, Yoweri K. Museveni, persuaded the guest leaders that the South Sudanese stakeholders must be allowed to pass this dateline because it is being imposed on them by “wazungu” (the white men) and not their own initiative.
During the morning session, which was dominated by Museveni, the host president urged his colleagues to come up with another dateline and also propose possible “Africa solutions to an African problem” that is free from western influence to bring peace to the African’s youngest nation.
Shocked by the proposals of president Museveni, the three leaders of Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenyan are expected to weigh their options and finalize the discussion in the evening.
The regional leaders also held a similar meetings at Entebbe in March this year to agree on their position should the South Sudanese stakeholders decline to meet the March 5th dateline without signing the argument.
With hopes to sign the agreement, the dateline was extended by another 24 hours, however, the talks collapsed on 6th March, leading to establishment of IGAD-PLUS to boost the mediating power of the regional bloc.
Unlike the past meeting in March, the South Sudanese president, Mr. Salva Kiir Mayardit, whose term expired in July, was not invited to attend this meeting.
This would be the second time the region isolated president Salva Kiir in four weeks after the expiry of his term.
The region and partners, argue that Salva Kiir’s term will only be legitimized by a Transitional Government of National Unity, a resolution that Juba bitterly objects.
Despite lack of direct representation, critics believes that Salva Kiir’s interest is represented by the Ugandan president.
President Kiir and his chief of army have declared that they will not sign the Compromise Peace Agreement and instead ask for more time to negotiate a better solution to the conflict.
In other reports, the armed opposition leader, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, has led a delegation to Johannesburg, South Africa, to meet president Jacob Zuma, who is also a member of IGAD-PLUS and an active member of Arusha Intra-party reunification process.
Despite with reservations on some sections of the proposed agreement, the armed opposition has endorsed signing the agreement during their Pagak consultations meeting last weekend.
