Kenya-led peace talks stall over creation of alternate structures
July 31, 2024 (JUBA) – The Kenyan-mediated South Sudan peace talks have stalled over creation of alternate structures, sparking concerns that a delay could derail success of the process after the parties agreed on eight protocols.
The talks, dubbed The Tumaini Initiative, were taking place between the national unity government led by President Salva Kiir on the one hand and the hold-out groups on the other.
The holdout groups are a collection of armed and political dissidents who did not sign the 2018 peace agreement.
The members of the delegation representing the government at the talks included representatives from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) under President Kiir, members of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) a key stakeholder in the September 2018 peace deal.
The SPLM-IO, led by the First Vice President Riek Machar, withdrew from the talks, saying the agreement had been drafted in a way that either undermined the current structures created by the 2018 peace deal or ran parallel to it.
In a statement, the leader of Real SPLM, Pagan Amum said the negotiations stalled after the armed opposition withdrew from the process, prompting the delegation representing President Kiir and other parties to follow them to Juba for further consultations with constituent organizations and structures.
“No discussions are going on as we speak because the government delegation is in Juba to consult with the leadership and we are waiting for them to come back,” he said.
Amum described the SPLM-IO’s withdrawal as “unreasonable and unwise”.
“The withdrawal was unreasonable because the SPLM IO and SPLM IG, have been struggling for the last six years to implement the R-ARCSS and have failed. Tumaini is here to rescue the country. I do not understand why anybody would be against it,” he stressed.
Machar’s group, rejected the Tumaini Protocols and declared its withdrawal from the process on July 12, 2024, arguing it established alternative institutions to the 2018 peace accord.
The SPLM-IO’s decision to pull out drew mixed reactions, with leaders of the civil society organizations questioning the rationale of the move after the declaration of commitment.
Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) described the pull-out as a violation of the commitments made in the Declaration signed by the parties, which included the SPLM-IO.
The presidential envoy and the leader of the government delegation, Ambassador Albino Mathom Ayuel regretted the decision, arguing that the delegation was not representing their parties, but were rather participating in the talks as part of the whole delegation, regardless of their political affiliation and orientation.
Ayuel led efforts to address the challenges facing the Tumaini Initiative, resulting in a meeting with Machar to discuss the withdrawal of his group and how to address their concerns
South Sudan’s Information mnister Michael Makuei told the media after meeting Machar that the withdrawal of the SPLM-IO from the process has weakened the government’s position as the delegation was an inclusive team.
The meeting, he said, resolved to have the concerns addressed at the presidency level where all the five principals to the agreement will decide on the withdrawal of the SPLM-IO.
Machar’s acting press secretary, Puok Both Baluang said the parties had agreed to scheduled last week for the meeting to address their concerns.
“The first meeting was on Tuesday. It was the presidency receiving briefing from the mediators of the Tumaini on the initialed protocols. That meeting was followed by another presidency meeting chaired by His Excellency the first vice president in attendance of the four vice presidents plus the members of the high-level committee and the government delegation to Tumaini,” he said.
Baluang revealed that the presidential meetings had covered the initial protocols.
“They also decided to record all the discussion minutes and revisit them for final decision once the president returned from South Africa where he had gone for bilateral discussion and consultation with President Cyril Ramaphosa on the Tumaini Initiative”, he stressed.
Kiir returned to the country on Sunday and the principals are yet to convene a meeting to address concerns raised by Machar and his group after withdrawal.
“We are still expecting a meeting to be chaired by His Excellency the President,“ said Baluang..
“The high-level committee also expressed their concerns equally to SPLM-IO’s concerns that led to their decision to withdraw from the talks but all in all the decision will be made after the meeting of the presidency and the high-level committee and the consensus will be reached on the matter but as of now, the SPLM-IO decision remains the same as long as our concerns are not addressed”, he concluded.
(ST)