President Obama: South Sudan faces sanctions if they don't strike peace deal

US President Barack Obama (C) speaks during a meeting with representatives from Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, the African Union and Sudan in Addis Ababa. (Photo: AFP)

South Sudan’s warring factions may face further international pressure to end their conflict if they do not reach a peace deal by August 17, US President Barack Obama said Monday.

Obama, in Ethiopia on a two-nation Africa tour, met regional African leaders in Addis Ababa to discuss the conflict that flared in December 2013, pitting troops loyal to President Salva Kiir against rebels commanded by former vice president Riek Machar.

A US official said sanctions or other penalties could be considered if the two sides failed to reach a peace deal by an August 17 deadline. Previous deadlines have been ignored, deepening the crisis in the world’s newest nation.

“If we don’t see a breakthrough by the 17th, then we have to consider what other tools we have to apply greater pressure on the parties,” Obama told a news conference with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who has hosted peace talks.

The US and European Union have already imposed sanctions on individual commanders from both sides.

Obama acknowledged efforts to end the conflict by Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a regional African grouping that has mediated and which includes Ethiopia, but said the “the situation continues to deteriorate”.

Hailemariam recognised that negotiations had rumbled along for a long time. “The people are suffering on the ground and we cannot let this go on,” he said.

IGAD states threatened sanctions in the past, but did not act on them and more recently said such steps would not help.

Those at the talks also included Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibarahim Ghandour and the African Union’s Dlamini Zuma.