By Parach Mach

JUBA, South Sudan

South Sudan insurgents have said that a fragile regional and international attempt to put an end to more than two years of fighting in the country was in danger of collapse because of regime obstructions to the formation of a transitional government.

Rebel chief negotiator Taban Deng Gai told Anadolu Agency that the 2015 peace agreement, reached in Addis Ababa, was in turmoil and accused the government of delaying flights expected to transport their forces to the capital Juba.

The Juba government is reportedly refusing to provide clearance for flights to transport members of the opposition to the capital. It has been denying rebel forces cantonment in designated areas in the Upper Nile, Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria regions.

“For the last six weeks, there is no headway, so I am warning the country that this peace may collapse on the issue of cantonment,” Gai said.

“The arrival of 23 senior officers for Joint Integrated Police, which was scheduled to be yesterday, March 21, 2016, was delayed because of the government denial to clear UN flights to Pagak- a rebel headquarters,” Gai said.

The rebels have also been insisting on bringing their heavy weapons into Juba, including tanks.

But the South Sudanese government said the rebels’ insistence on bringing heavy weapons to Juba was unacceptable.

Rebels will not be allowed to transport heavy weaponry into the capital, the country’s defense minister, Kuol Manyang Juuk, told Anadolu Agency.

Insurgents will only be allowed to transport “standard armaments”, including AK-47s, RPGs and light automatic machine guns, Juuk said.

The rebel chief Taban Deng Gai brushed aside claims that the heavy weapons would be a provocation for another conflict with government forces. He said the rebels need their heavy weapons because of prior experience with the South Sudan military.

The advent of rebel forces into the capital aims to pave the way for rebel leader Riek Machar to join President Salva Kiir in a transitional government.

The insurgents have also been haggling with the government over the creation of cantonment areas in the western Bahr el Ghazal and Equatoria which has been rejected because the government refutes any presence of rebels in these areas.

“They wanted these areas to be included [in the agreement] but the government said the conflict areas needed to be limited to the Upper Nile region because this is where they are active,” said Michael Makuei Lueth, information minister and government spokesman.

The two rival factions had agreed that the first batch of 1,370 rebel forces among the expected 3,000 troops arrive by March 1 but no rebel troops have yet set foot in Juba.

South Sudan was thrown into crisis in 2013 when Kiir accused his ex-vice president Machar of trying to overthrow his government.

To date, more than ten thousand people have been killed and more than 2.4 million were displaced from their homes.

Both sides in the conflict have been accused of widespread ethnic massacres, rape and recruitment of thousands of child soldiers.