AlQa'dah 03, 1436, August 18, 2015, SPA -- The South Sudanese government rejected a peace deal that has been accepted by rebel leader Riek Machar and that is aimed at ending 20 months of fighting, Information Minister Michael Makuei said Tuesday. "We strongly believe that this document cannot save the people of South Sudan, it is a sell-out, and we will not accept it," Makuei told journalists on arrival from Addis Ababa, where Machar and President Salva Kiir had negotiated on Monday. Machar signed the document, but Kiir refused. Mediators from East Africa's Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said the president would return to the Ethiopian capital within 15 days to "finalize" the agreement. "We objected to it. There are disputed provisions and there are outstanding issues that need to be negotiated and agreed upon," Makuei said. Makuei told dpa that the government had proposed changes to the agreement.
