March 6, 2015-The IGAD-led peace talks held in Addis Ababa this week have ended without an agreement. South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and rebel opposition leader Riek Machar have failed to reach agreement on major issues of contention between the two warring parties. Mediators have said today that the peace talks have collapsed.

Although the deadline was yesterday, IGAD tried today to turn around the failed talks with no success. The absence of an agreement paves the way for possible sanctions.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn is quoted as saying, “This is unacceptable, both morally and politically.” He said this to the people of South Sudan, “Continuing war flagrantly disregards the interests of you, the people.”

“It is an abdication of the most sacred duties leaders have to you, their people: to deliver peace, prosperity and stability,” he added.

Referring to Machar and Kiir, he said “I asked them to be courageous in offering compromises and alternatives, rather than only reiterating old positions….Unfortunately, as the missed deadline, our please have not been heeded.”