Freed Machar supporters travel

Pro-Machar SPLM delegates Puot Kang Chol (L) and Mr Tor Tungawar Kuei (C) talk to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development special envoy for South Sudan Amb Seyoum Mesfin recently. Monitor PHOTO 

Addis Ababa- Seven South Sudan detainees released to Kenya last month flew to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa on Wednesday night to join all-party talks aimed at resolving the political crisis in Africa’s youngest nation.

The arrival of the seven could see a possible resumption of the peace negotiations between the warring parties to end the crisis that led the country to civil war, delayed for the second time this week.

Although the peace talks were scheduled for February 10, and then postponed to February 12, the second round of peace talk in Addis Ababa has been delayed by the absence of the seven members of South Peoples’ Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) recently arrested on allegation of attempting a coup.

The group loyal to former vice president Riek Machar had earlier said they would not participate in the next round of peace talks until all the pro-Machar SPLM/A leaders, who were detained by President Salva Kiir’s government, were released.

The group also demanded the withdrawal of Ugandan soldiers from South Sudan.
President Uhuru Kenyatta met the pro-Machar SPLM/A leaders at State House Nairobi before they departed Kenya. The President named Rongo MP and former Cabinet minister Dalmas Otieno as an envoy to help them during the talks.

The seven political leaders, as well as Ms Rebecca Garang, widow of the late revered South Sudanese leader John Garang, thanked President Kenyatta for his efforts to restore peace and stability in South Sudan.

“It was important to put pressure as you did, that our brothers in South Sudan agree to a cessation of hostilities. Now they must work to ensure people in camps can be allowed to return home, and that the remaining political detainees are freed so they can play their rightful role in the search for a lasting settlement,” Ms Garang told Mr Kenyatta.
President Kenyatta – increasingly becoming an influential figure within IGAD and chair of the East African Community – last week offered the seven South Sudanese leaders asylum until the crisis is solved.

“We have no desire, no wish, other than peace, stability and prosperity for South Sudan,” President Kenyatta said. “We will work with you. We will work to facilitate a return to normalcy.”

South Sudan exploded into violence in December 2013. The IGAD meeting in late December hammered out a formula for a return to peace, which then culminated into agreements for the cessation of hostilities and a deal on the release of detainees.