Power sharing explored for Juba

Nairobi/New York. Regional leaders under the aegis of  the Intergovernmental Authority (Igad) yesterday convened in Nairobi in pursuit of a solution to the South Sudan power struggle.

The country’s violence has caused a humanitarian crisis.

By 2 pm Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, South Sudan’s Salva Kiir, Somalia’s Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, Ethiopia’s Hailemariam Desalegn and Djibouti’s Ismael Omar Guelleh were in attendance.

The release of political prisoners and a coalition are some of the key issues which were to be discussed in a bid to end the violence that has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people.

A source close to the 23rd extraordinary session of the Igad meeting in Nairobi said the leaders would consider power sharing as one of the options to help end the chaos.

“There is a strong desire to end the violence and leaders have seen this is a political problem which can be solved if everyone is brought on board,” a source who requested to remain anonymous but who is privy to the meeting indicated.

Regional leaders are pushing forward their search for a solution to the South Sudan problem which has seen hundreds of foreigners flee and thousands of South Sudanese seek refuge in UN camps.

A statement from Igad said the meeting would address key options for Africa’s youngest nation which on December 16 descended into chaos. Meanwhile, the UN Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss)  was unprepared for the explosion of violence that has rocked the country in the past two weeks, a top UN official in Juba said on Thursday.

“No, we did not see this coming,” Unmiss head Hilde Johnson said in a video press conference with reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

“I don’t think any South Sudanese nor any of us observers in country or outside expected the unravelling of the instability so quickly,” she added.

“We knew ethnic tensions have unfortunately a great potential to be destabilising in this country. But the speed, the gravity and the scale, I think nobody would have expected.”

Ms Johnson noted that 10 days prior to the outbreak of fighting, some 800 international business executives had gathered in Juba for an investment conference.

“It was one of the biggest conferences in the region, with enthusiastic support, and a lot of investment deals were signed,” Ms Johnson said. Unmiss was aware of “internal challenges and tensions within the SPLM,” she said, referring to the ruling party in South Sudan.

The violence should not be characterised as an ethnic conflict, Ms Johnson insisted. She described it instead as “a political struggle between two leaders” that includes “multi-ethnic representation on both sides.”

South Sudan can still be put on a path to peace and development, Ms Johnson suggested, pointing to the example of Timor-Letse, a Southeast Asian country that won its independence 10 years ago.

“A similar crisis erupted in the country” in 2006 involving factions of the army, she recalled.

“And we have seen East Timor, Timor-Leste, coming out of that crisis in a very solid way and now be seen as one of the good performers, internationally, among the fragile states,” Ms Johnson said.

“I think that is a sign that even though you can have major setbacks like these it is also possible to get back on track and to move in the right direction.”