Civil society leader Edmund Yakani warned that South Sudan’s warring parties’ stances on power sharing mean there is “little hope” for peace in the near future.

The SPLM-Juba of Salva Kiir and Riek Machar’s SPLM-In Opposition have been stuck on how to share executive powers in a proposed transitional government.

Kiir’s faction wants him to remain president with executive powers, with a non-executive prime minister position created for Machar. Machar’s side wants their leader to be an executive prime minister with Kiir as a ceremonial president.

Both sides recently held consultative conferences at which they firmed up these positions.

Yakani said this “rigidity” presents an obstacle for the next round of peace talks and is likely to result in “further military confrontation.”

“This factor of non-executive versus executive functions and powers gives little hope for peace to be attained while it gives a lot of fears for the war to continue,” he said in a statement to Radio Tamazuj.

“Negotiating political settlement on the expense of the citizens suffering is one of the worst political approaches to political power and state/government office,” said Yakani, who is the executive director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization.

Still, the civil society leader commended the two warring parties for conducting their consultations, saying that the meetings “demonstrated both of you do stand for inclusive process for reaching peaceful settlement of the violent conflict that broke out across the country in 15^th December, 2013.”

Yakani urged the IGAD regional mediation team to pressure both sides to compromise in order to prevent further loss of civilian life.

“Citizens’ safety is over 100% more important than the political power,” he said.

Radio Tamazuj: South Sudanese activist Edmund Yakani speaks in Juba