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South Sudan minister says rebel leader can't make ceasefire hold

17 January 2014 22:52 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. South Sudan's defense minister said on Friday the leader of rebels battling government forces did not have enough control over his fighters to make any ceasefire hold, as peace talks dragged on with no sign of a deal, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Defense Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk also told Reuters the two sides were still fighting over two strategic towns and said his government could ask Sudan for military help if the conflict in the world's newest nation threatened South Sudan's oilfields.

Sudan, from which the south split in 2011, relies on revenues from fees charged for use of its pipeline that carries South Sudan's oil exports to international markets.

Troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels backing the deputy he sacked in July, Riek Machar, have been fighting since mid-December. The conflict has increasingly followed ethnic lines, pitting Kiir's Dinka group against the Nuer of Machar.

Juuk said Machar had used a spiritual leader, who he named as Dak Kueth, to stir up people to fight.

"(Machar) is not in control of these people. So even if a peace agreement is signed, or cessation of hostilities, these people who are not under the control of Machar will continue creating insecurity for the people and government," he said.

"We cannot make a unilateral ceasefire because it is they (the rebels) who are attacking the civil population and government positions," Juuk added.

The two sides are negotiating a ceasefire deal in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, but there has been no clear progress. Rebel demands include that Ugandan troops deployed in South Sudan stop supporting government forces in combat.