South Sudan should face extra pressure if it misses August peace deadline - Obama

By Jeff Mason ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - South Sudan's warring factions may face further international pressure if they do not reach a peace deal by Aug. 17, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday, ahead of talks with east African leaders to study penalties if the deadline is not met. Options discussed by those leaders ranged from applying sanctions to sending in a "regional intervention force," a U.S. official told reporters after the meeting. The South Sudanese government responded by saying additional sanctions could harm the peace process. Obama, in Ethiopia on a two-nation Africa tour, convened the talks in Addis Ababa to discuss the conflict raging between President Salva Kiir's government and rebels commanded by Riek Machar. The group of leaders from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan and the African Union agreed on the urgency of the situation but did not reach a consensus on what to do if the deadline comes and goes as others have done, the U.S. official said. "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. Ateny Wek Ateny, a spokesman for Kiir, told Reuters: "What we need from the international community is support, so if more measures come it will jeopardise the chances of the people of South Sudan". Rebel spokesman James Gatdet welcomed Obama's comments and urged the government to tackle key obstacles, saying "peace is possible". The option of a regional force was not proposed by the United States, according to Obama administration officials who said such a force could be used to implement a peace deal if one were reached. The United States and the European Union have already imposed sanctions on individual commanders from both sides. They could increase those sanctions with or separately from partner countries in the region. Thousands have been killed and more than 2.2 million displaced since fighting broke out in December 2013. Both sides have been accused of human rights abuses and indiscriminate killings, which have often been carried out along ethnic lines, with Machar's Nuers pitted against Kiir's powerful Dinkas. Hailemariam said Monday's meeting should send a "strong signal". "The people are suffering on the ground and we cannot let this go on," he said. The regional grouping IGAD, which includes Ethiopia and has been mediating, has threatened sanctions in the past, but more recently said they would not help. Western diplomats have pushed countries in the region to put more pressure on the South Sudanese to make peace. The United States, Britain and Norway were among the main Western states that sponsored South Sudan when it seceded from Sudan in 2011. Those at the talks included Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibarahim Ghandour and the chair of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. (Additional reporting by George Obulutsa in Nairobi; Writing by Edmund Blair and Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Robin Pomeroy)