Why Khartoum initiative doomed to fail again?
By Gatluke Chuol Reat
IGAD, Troika and EU plus U.S.A take your ego out of the peace process, once you do, and put the peace process into the centre of the root causes, then and only then, that approach will emphasize the ongoing role of your mediating peace in South Sudan. So then you will be able to work with the respective parties, keep them connected as they build trust, and assisting them in finding ways to the solve the conflict. The peace process cannot and will not works by emphasizing on one total comprehensive agreement (Positions Ratio between SPLM-and Others Party), but should be countless of interventions, agreements and ways forward that address the conflict.
The importance of the advantage of focusing on the conflict resolutions reminds us that in peace processes the parties are central to the process, and not the mediator. My encouragements to you that you need to put aside your egos in mediation, making sure that your motivation for the work is not your own recognition or self-interest, but for that of the people of three regions of South Sudan, such as Greater Equatoria, Upper Nile and Bahr El Ghazal plus parties. Ego-driven mediation can only ever lead to disaster. Such as that of 2015 massacre of 300 young men and women in Juba on July 8, 2016, that lead to another 1.5 million people displaced to Uganda in the last two years alone. If the lesson is not learned, then, this peace process is a waste.
All of you should focus more on understanding the issues fundamentally, that will lead you to sense the dynamics because this is pivotal in being an effective mediator.
You should also know that no party is monolithic, and is instead made up of complex human beings driven by emotions, historical grievances, family or clan legacies, and at times self-interest, or a strong sense of their group’s identity. For instead, Dinka for the issue of 1991, the Nuer for the issue of 2013 which is the centre of the current Catastrophe and inhumane situation in South Sudan.
My advice to you is, if you want this war to come to an end, and be successful mediators, peace builders and negotiators remain tough on issues and on people, not on Parties’ leaders. Such as, focusing on three regions of South Sudan and see what people want not what the leaders of the Parties want to get as a result?
People of these three regions such as Greater Upper Nile, Bhar El Ghazal and Equatoria are the once who are suffering and been affected by this war. It is their own lands and their families’ lives who are affected. If you want peace to come, this is the most powerful motivation for parties to achieve peace – the horror of war itself did affect the three regions not one of them is enjoying any peace now.
After you introduce the three regions while keeping the parties, their political will and heartfelt needs and desires at the centre will ensure a sustainable peace process. Mediating between parties in this approach requires motivation from a desire for peace and not our egos.
Gatluke is a B.A holder in Philosophy, at University of Western Ontario, Canada and is a Lead Three (3) regional Campaigner who is leading the Greater Upper Nile to be separated from the rest of two regions of South Sudan.