JUBA, South Sudan (AP) – A spokesman for rebels in South Sudan expressed doubt Thursday that President Salva Kiir is committed to a peace deal he signed the previous day. There were no reports of fighting on Thursday.
While rebel and opposition leader Riek Machar is happy that Kiir signed the compromise agreement, the long list of reservations cited by Kiir signals “a lack of commitment,” said James Gatdet Dak, a spokesman for Machar.
“(Machar) thinks these are unnecessary and he says these were discussed during the mediation … so there is no need to bring them up again,” Dak told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Nairobi, Kenya.
The peace pact, designed with regional leaders mediating and backed by the international community, calls for a transitional government of national unity to be established within 90 days. Machar is expected to return to South Sudan’s capital, Juba, as Kiir’s deputy. Machar used to be the vice president until he and Kiir had a falling out and the conflict erupted in December 2013 along ethnic lines.
Kiir, who signed the deal under threat of U.N. sanctions after declining to do so alongside Machar last week, said he has concerns about the deal’s provisions for sharing power sharing and the demilitarization of Juba. Kiir had wanted to be able to determine the powers given to his two deputies, and he opposes the opposition being allowed to appoint two state governors.