South Sudan’s religious leaders call for peace negotiations to restart

Religious leaders from South Sudan have urged the country’s warring factions to renew their negotiations, warning that the boycott of peace talks is costing lives.

Both the government of President Salva Kiir and rebels loyal to former vice-president Riek Machar are refusing to restart talks aimed at ending six months of bloodshed, which has already killed thousands and displaced 1.3 million people.

The government says it objects to comments made by Mahboub Maalim – the executive secretary of the East African bloc brokering the talks, Igad – who said the idea that a military solution to the conflict could be pursued was “stupid”.

Rebels, meanwhile, have objected to the participation in the talks of civil society groups, religious organisations and other political parties, complaining that they were not involved in the selection process.

“We fear that the warring parties may want to resort to war, it’s kind of a delaying tactic,” South Sudanese Bishop Enoch Tombe Stephen said in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where the talks are supposed to be held…

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