Kenya-led South Sudan peace talks in final stages

South Sudan’s minister of information Michael Makuei said in a statement on the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) on Friday that talks are in the final stages.

“Talks have progressed well. Significant signs of progress have been made and have now reached final stages”, said minister Makuei, but gave no details.

Multiple highly placed sources at the talks with direct knowledge also confirmed the parties have made significant progress and are only working together with the mediation team on technicalities and language the parties would likely adopt.

However, critics of the process of selection of the parties at the talks are urging for inclusion, citing a need to reflect diversity and perspectives that seek to address the root causes.

The opposition, not participating in the process, portray the peace process as a project to facilitate a return of the former army chief of staff, Paul Malong,  Stephen Buoy Rolyang, and Pagan Amum. The trio have presented themselves as people not looking for power, but rather seeking the process to address the root causes of the conflict that broke out in 2013 when a split within the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement(SPLM) resulted in a violence split that killed thousands.

Tense relations, initially between the holdout groups and the government delegation, the two biggest parties in the process, led the mediation team to calm down the situation after stating assurance of the safety of some of the opposition figures, who claimed were targeted for assassination by some officials in the government.

In a statement on July 1, 2024, three opposition figures seeking inclusion in the process decried exclusion and pointed fingers at three main members of the non-signatory groups of the September 2018 revitalized peace agreement as the reason for exclusion.

The new group representing different political and military organizations, claimed Malong,  Amum and Buoy have threatened to quit the process if they are included. This threat, according to the group, undermines the process.

“Threats by pagan Amum, Paul Malong, and Stephen Buoy Rolnyang that the other parties were to be part of the process then they will quit are hallow as their call for unity. The participants they brought to the peace process are only their kin and kith, tribal that they cannot champion any national agenda. Leaders should be selfless and high of integrity if they are to be believed. However, the individuals in question are tribal and trivial. If they quit the Tumaini initiative, what alternative do they have? They have no military threat and are stained. We urge His Excellency President Salva Kiir Mayardit and President William Samoei Ruto to review and re-assess the current peace process. His excellency the president needs to redirect the mediators that all South Sudanese matter and the Tumaini, if genuine, is the only center of gravity for national unity”, a statement Sudan Tribune obtained reads in part.

The statement from “The Equatoria’s People Alliance” contained names of  Emmanuel Sunday, chairman of the  South Sudan United Front progressive, Deng Vanang, Chairman and commander in chief of United Democratic Revolutionary Movement/Army, Major General Peter Choul Gatluak, chairman and commander in chief of Nilotia People Defense Movement/Forces  M/DPDF.

It called on President Kiir and his  Kenyan counterpart William Ruto to ensure their inclusion in the process.