Salva Kiir Mayardit

At talks in Addis Ababa about forming an interim government in South Sudan some are pinning their hopes on a group of eleven politicians most of whom were ministers until they were sacked by President Salva Kiir Mayardit last July...

Three other East African presidents were there: Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta Somalia's Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan...

Hassan Sheikh and Salva Kiir are anxious to win Rwanda's support for their bids to join the East African Community...

In fact neither of the warring leaders in the South Sudan conflict – President Salva Kiir Mayardit or his sacked Vice-President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon is keen on IGAD's mediating role especially its plan to send in a stabilisation force though the government has reluctantly accepted it...

This is the first time that President Salva Kiir Mayardit has accepted that the roots of the crisis lie within the SPLM rather than in the claims of a coup attempt by his former Vice-President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon...

The other two camps at the Addis talks are those loyal to Salva Kiir and the dissidents the Third Platform led by former Foreign Minister Deng Alor Kuol and SPLM former Secretary General Pa'gan Amum Okiech (still detained in Juba)...

Although much of the population is highly critical of President Salva Kiir Mayardit's government that doesn't translate into support for Riek who enjoys backing only among a section of his Nuer community...

He has denied any coup attempt and publicly accepted that Salva Kiir is President...

While in Addis Ababa for the African Union summit on 29-31 January Museveni personally tried to persuade allies of Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon to switch their support back to President Salva Kiir Mayardit...

Neither those supporting President Salva Kiir Mayardit nor the factions behind his rival ex-­Vice President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon had shown any commitment to ending the fighting before their representatives signed the ceasefire in Addis Ababa on the evening of 23 January...

Before that however there had been months of complaints that Salva Kiir was surrounding himself with Dinka supporters from his home state and being influenced by people who unlike Rebecca and Pa'gan were not seen as bearers of the liberation struggle banner...

'Salva Kiir got what he wanted Independence for South Sudan...

Among those dismissed were the eleven men who were detained inJuba and whom Salva Kiir accused of involvement in a foiled ‘coup' in December (AC Vol 54 No 16 A power struggle not a coup)...

' Not the usual suspectsThe complex roots of the crisis are evident from the origins of the top eleven detainees accused by Salva Kiir's government of complicity in Riek Machar's supposed coup plot...

' Pa'gan Amum declared that they were trying only to reform the party not mount a coup and they recognised that Salva Kiir was legitimate President...

Neither those supporting President Salva Kiir Mayardit nor the factions behind his rival ex-­Vice President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon had shown any commitment to ending the fighting before their representatives signed the ceasefire in Addis Ababa on the evening of 23 January...

Before that however there had been months of complaints that Salva Kiir was surrounding himself with Dinka supporters from his home state and being influenced by people who unlike Rebecca and Pa'gan were not seen as bearers of the liberation struggle banner...

'Salva Kiir got what he wanted Independence for South Sudan...

Among those dismissed were the eleven men who were detained in Juba and whom Salva Kiir accused of involvement in a foiled ‘coup' in December (AC Vol 54 No 16 A power struggle not a coup)...

' Not the usual suspectsThe complex roots of the crisis are evident from the origins of the top eleven detainees accused by Salva Kiir's government of complicity in Riek Machar's supposed coup plot...

' Pa'gan Amum declared that they were trying only to reform the party not mount a coup and they recognised that Salva Kiir was legitimate President...

Meanwhile pressure was mounting in Addis on President Salva Kiir Mayardit to release the remaining four detainees linked to dissident ex-Vice-President Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon...

The four oppositionists still detained in Juba – Pa'gan Amum Oyai Deng Majak d'Agot Ezekiel Lol – are unlikely to join the talks due in Addis Ababa on 7 February between President Salva Kiir Mayardit's government and dissidents led by ex-vice-president Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon...