Ethiopian
Foreign Affairs Minister, Tedros Adhanom, addresses the Media after the
IGAD Summit watched by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, left, Ethiopian
Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, middle, and Somalian President,
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, right, after the meeting of the Intergovernmental
Authority on Development (IGAD) consultative meeting on the situation
on South Sudan held at State House, Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Dec. 27,
2013 (Photo: AP)
Saturday, December 28, 2013
South Sudan's government is ready for a ceasefire with rebels, regional leaders said Friday, urging the rebels to make a similar commitment.
A meeting of regional leaders "welcomed the commitment by the Government of the Republic of South Sudan to an immediate cessation of hostilities and called upon Dr. Riek Machar and other parties to make similar commitments," Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom said.
Following a summit in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) also called on South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and his rival, former vice president Riek Machar, four days to hold face-to-face talks.
It promised further action if the deadine passed without a meeting, without specifying what action could be taken.
However the grouping appeared to take the side of President Kiir, by "condemning Machar's attempt to secure power through a coup as opposed to a democratic process."
The fighting in South Sudan started on December 15 after Kiir accused Machar, whom he sacked in July, of attempting a coup. Machar fiercely denied this, and said the president was exploiting a clash between members of the army as a pretext to carry out a purge.
Fighting has since spread across the oil-rich but impoverished nation, which only won independence from Sudan in 2011.
The IGAD grouping includes Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Uganda and South Sudan -- although South Sudan's president was absent from the talks.