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South Sudan gov't refuses to sign peace deal with rebels

Xinhua, August 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Sudan's major rebel group, led by former vice-president Riek Machar, and Secretary General of the ruling party Pagan Amum on Monday signed a peace deal in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while President Salva Kiir refused to sign.

"South Sudan President Salva Kiir failed to sign the peace deal," Seyoum Mesfin, chief mediator of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development in Africa (IGAD), was reported to have told the press in Addis Ababa Monday.

He explained that South Sudan government had reservations, pointing out that President Kiir asked for two weeks delay.

"In the next 15 days, the South Sudan government will come back to Addis Ababa to finalize the peace agreement," Mesfin said.

The South Sudanese government and rebels have recently resumed peace talks in Addis Ababa after the mediators availed them until Aug. 17 to sign a peace deal to end the violent clash in the newly-born state.

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

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