The United Nations has expressed satisfaction at what appears to be momentum in the South Sudan peace talks, but still seems cautious about expectations.
In an email reply to CGTN’s request for comment, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric wrote that recent developments in the South Sudan peace process have provided fresh momentum to the talks.
Dujarric was referring to last week’s meeting in Addis Ababa of the Heads of State of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), as well as Monday’s meeting between President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar, in Khartoum.
He said the U.N. is encouraged by the continued engagement in this process, but he noted the reports of the progress have yet to be officially confirmed.
The caution is not surprising. A previous peace agreement reached in 2015 failed to end the fighting and stem the bloodshed in the world’s youngest nation.
And just hours after this latest peace deal was reportedly reached, an attack by an armed group on a UN aid convoy killed one UN peacekeeper, from Bangladesh.
The UN has condemned the attack, which occurred in the same area where several South Sudanese aid workers were abducted earlier this year.
