May 31st 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – Kenyan Cabinet secretary for foreign affairs, Hon. Ababu Namwaba, who led the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) delegation of the regional bloc’s Council of ministers reportedly told Gabriel Changson Lew Chan, leader of the Federal Democratic Party, a member of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), that the IGAD peace proposal presented by the regional mediation to warring South Sudanese parties last week was not the actual peace agreement that the regional bloc wanted to be signed but it was an attempt by the regional bloc to see reactions of the warring parties and counter proposals, source close to the opposition leader told the Nyamilepedia today.
Namwaba reportedly visited Changson at his residence in Nairobi where the two discussed the IGAD peace proposal – Changson’s spokesman, Deng Vanag confirmed to Nyamilepedia the secret meeting held on Wednesday in Nairobi.
“IGAD’s bridging peace proposal is not the actual agreement, but concerted attempt to gauge the reactions and counter proposals of the parties involved in the peace process,” the source quoted Mr. Namwaba as saying.
For his part, Deng Vanag, the spokesman of Changson’s FDP said the meeting focused on the IGAD peace proposal.
“The cordial conversation mainly focused on duo’s reflection on recently issued IGAD’s bridging peace proposal, meant to harmonize divergent views of South Sudan’s political parties into future compromise agreement,” Deng said of the meeting.
South Sudan descended into civil war in December 2013 after forces loyal to the country’s president, Salva Kiir Mayardiit and his then Governor of Northern Bahr Al-Ghazal State Gen. Paul Malong Awan went door-to-door in the capital Juba killing civilians belonging to the Nuer ethnic group sparking a nation-wide protests from top army generals from the Nuer leading to a civil war.
A peace agreement signed in August 2015 by President Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar and negotiated under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union (AU) in presence of Troika and other international observers collapsed in July 2016 following fighting at the presidential palace in Juba “J1” reportedly after President Kiir ordered a failed attempt to arrest the SPLM-IO leader Riek Machar.
A peace revitalization process ended without a formal agreement between warring parties last week in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa after the regional mediated presented a peace proposal that seek to share power between different warring parties.
