South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar is visiting Washington this week to seek support for the increasingly fragile peace deal both he and his rival signed under intense U.S. pressure in August.
But the Obama administration has grown so frustrated after both sides failed to follow through with the agreement — at least the seventh of its kind in the past 20 months — that National Security Advisor Susan Rice abruptly scrapped a scheduled meeting with Machar at the White House on Tuesday. The cancellation has not previously been reported.
In a wide-ranging interview with Foreign Policy Tuesday, Machar accused American officials of “not supporting peace” and slammed the White House for not doing more to ensure the deal they backed in August is enforced on the ground. Under the terms of the accord, all fighting was supposed to halt immediately, and troops from both sides were instructed to retreat to their barracks. Instead, violence has continued to break out, and President Salva Kiir has refused to demilitarize the capital of Juba by the deadline agreed to in the deal.
“I am frustrated,” Machar told FP during an interview at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank.
“Why would she cancel such a meeting? America has been supporting a lot, and in the last minute you can’t chicken out.”
Read more:
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/06/south-sudanese-rebel-leader-blasts-the-u-s-after-cold-shoulder-from-the-white-house/
