South Sudan willing for peace, reserved over IGAD document: FM

South Sudan's foreign minister stressed Saturday his country's willingness to achieve comprehensive peace, but expressed reservation over a draft peace document proposed by mediators.

"Definitely South Sudan's government is willing to reach a comprehensive peace agreement. This is the desire of our people," Barnaba Benjamin told Xinhua over phone from Juba.

"However, the other party (referring to the armed opposition) has crippled all efforts for political settlement by insisting on demands that could not be achieved on the ground," he noted.

He said his government has reservations regarding a draft peace deal earlier proposed by the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development in Africa (IGAD) and other international mediators for the the South Sudanese warring parties to consult on.

"We agree on some items of the draft agreement, including the formation of a transitional government," said Benjamin, adding that "but we have reservations on some items that are impossible to achieve such as giving the opposition 53 percent of power-sharing in the Upper Nile, Unity and Jonglei States. This is unacceptable."

The IGAD's proposed peace document granted the current government a majority in the legislature, the position of president and 53 percent of ministerial portfolios.

It further proposed for the rebels a new position of first vice president and 33 percent of ministerial portfolios, while the remaining 14 percent was allotted for the other opposition groups, excluding the Greater Upper Nile region (Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity States) where 53 percent were suggested to go to the rebels and 33 for the current government.

Though the IGAD has availed the South Sudanese rivals until August 17 to ink a peace deal, yet Juba insists on its position rejecting any agreement that does not consider it as an elected government with full powers.

"The IGAD cannot impose a peace agreement on the southerners. The IGAD's task is only to facilitate the process of negotiations between the South Sudanese rivals. Our responsibility, as government and opposition, is to agree on a fair and comprehensive deal that fulfils the demands of our people," said Benjamin.

Meanwhile, the top South Sudanese diplomat rejected threats on imposing sanctions on his country in case a peace deal is not reached as scheduled.

"Sanctions have never been a solution in any place in the world. I have spoken with the U.S officials and told them sanctions is not the right path to achieve peace in South Sudan," added Benjamin.

Recently the U.S special envoy to South Sudan Donald Booth said that the patience of his country and the mediators has run out as South Sudan's warring parties have so far failed to reach an agreement to end the violence there.

"Too many lives have been lost, too many millions of South Sudanese have been displaced and too many are at the verge of starvation and facing homelessness," he noted.

He urged the two parties to work to reach a comprehensive peace agreement to end the suffering of the South Sudanese people, saying that "the talks can't continue without end," an indication that Washington could impose sanctions on South Sudan.

Despite many rounds of talks under the patronage of the IGAD, the two South Sudanese rivals have failed to reach a peace deal to end the conflict.

South Sudan plunged into violence in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Kiir and defectors led by his former deputy Machar.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out war, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension that pitted the president's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.

The clashes have left thousands of South Sudanese dead and forced around 1.9 million people to flee their homes. Endit