The East African bloc IGAD has said South Sudanese rebel leader Riek
Machar should be released from house arrest in South Africa as soon as
possible on condition he renounces violence, amid signs of mounting
diplomatic pressure on the Juba government.
Machar, who has been held in South Africa since late 2016,
should “be allowed to relocate to any country outside the region and not
neighboring South Sudan”, read a statement issued after a meeting on
Monday of officials from the eight countries in the bloc.
IGAD
said it had designated officials to decide on a third country. It was
unclear why a third country that does not border South Sudan would be
preferable to South Africa.
There was no immediate comment from South Africa’s foreign ministry.
South
Sudan government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth said Juba had no
problem with the bloc’s decision, but that Machar should not be allowed
to take part in peace talks in Addis Ababa.
A spokesman for Machar’s SPLM-IO rebel group said it was reviewing IGAD’s statement and would respond later.
Civil
war broke out in oil-rich South Sudan in 2013, when troops loyal to
President Salva Kiir clashed with forces loyal to Machar, then the vice
president.
Tens of thousands have been killed since. Oil
production has been slashed. About a third of the population of 12
million have been forced from their homes.
The warring
parties signed a ceasefire in December in the Ethiopian capital, but it
was violated within hours. A new round of talks is scheduled for late
next month.
The bloc also announced that it wanted to
impose targeted sanctions on individuals violating the latest peace deal
or otherwise disrupting it, but referred the matter to the African
Union.
Last month, the head of the African
Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said it was open to imposing
sanctions on leaders violating the ceasefire in South Sudan.
His comments followed a chorus of other calls for action against those stoking the conflict.
The
United States imposed a unilateral arms embargo last month but has been
unable to convince the 15-member U.N. Security Council to impose one.
(Reuters)
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