JUBA/NAIROBI, (Reuters) – South Sudan said on Friday it was ready for a ceasefire and would release eight of 11 senior politicians arrested over an alleged coup plot, raising hopes it was edging towards a deal to end ethnic-based fighting ravaging the world’s newest nation.
There was no immediate reaction from Riek Machar, the former vice president who the government accuses of starting the conflict that has spread quickly over the landlocked state, threatening its vital oil industry.
“We have agreed in principle to a ceasefire to begin immediately, but our forces are prepared to defend themselves if attacked,” the government said on its Twitter feed.
Fighting between rival groups of soldiers erupted in the capital Juba on Dec. 15, then triggered clashes in half of South Sudan’s 10 states – often along ethnic lines, between Machar’s group, the Nuer, and President Salva Kiir’s Dinka.
The U.N. Security Council approved plans on Tuesday to almost double the number of U.N. peacekeepers in South Sudan to 12,500 troops and 1,323 police in a bid to protect some 63,000 civilians sheltering at its bases.
The additional peacekeepers are being drawn from other nearby missions and the first reinforcements arrived in Juba on Friday: 72 Bangladeshi police officers from the U.N. peacekeeping operation in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Washington, other Western powers and regional governments, fearful of a civil war in a fragile region with notoriously porous borders, have tried to mediate.
The release of eight of the 11 people detained in the aftermath of the fighting suggests South Sudan’s government may have softened its stance over who is to blame.
“It’s my expectation … that once released, they (the eight) will participate in a constructive manner in the efforts to bring about peace … and resolve the political issues that sparked this conflict,” U.S. Special Envoy to South Sudan Donald Booth said on Friday evening.
However, it may not be enough to satisfy Machar, who demanded all the 11 released as a condition for negotiations.
Presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told Reuters the authorities would continue to hold three of the most prominent figures – ex-Finance Minister Kosti Manibe, ex-Cabinet Affairs Minister Deng Alor, and the former Secretary General of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Pagan Amum.
