By William Madouk
The Government of South Sudan and the non-signatory parties to the revitalized peace agreement are currently participating in a trust and confidence-building session led by clerics and academics in Nairobi, Kenya.
This initiative follows a proposal from a civil society group to promote confidence-building through an intra-South Sudanese dialogue.
Edmund Yakani, the executive director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), stated in a released statement that the South Sudanese delegation is engaging in open and honest discussions.
“South Sudan delegation during yesterday’s (Thursday) session on trust and confidence building were engaged in ‘frank’, hard talk and pointing out political grievance among themselves,” said Yakani.
He added that the exercise of trust building was based on the lesson learned from the parties to the revitalized peace deal.
“It is imperative that Kenya mediation has positively responded to our call for having time to regain trust and confidence among the political elites,” said the CEPO boss.
According to him, the trust-building session would bridge the gap among parties as they air out their differences.
Mr. Yakani added that building trust among parties would allow the country to transition from violence to peace era.
“This is ideal to generate the creation of the trust and confidence building panel by strengthening trust among the political leaders for genuine and timely implementation of peace agreement by transitioning our society from violence to peace,” he noted.
The holdout groups previously known as SSOMA, which now call themselves non-signatories, comprise the Real SPLM led by Pagan Amum, the National Salvation Front (NAS) of Thomas Cirilo, the South Sudan United Front (SSUF/A) led by Paul Malong, and the National Democratic Movement-Patriotic Front (NDM-PF) of Emmanuel Ajawin.
Eight political-military groups are presently partaking in the Nairobi talks, including the Real-SPLM led by Pagan Amum, the SSPM led by Stephen Buay Rolnyang, and the SSUF/A led by Paul Malong.
Meanwhile, the NAS under Cirilo and The National Democratic Movement-Patriotic Front allied to Emmanuel Ajwain rejected Nairobi initiative, citing that it’s not safe and they weren’t consulted either.
The Nairobi peace talks commenced early this month intending to address the root cause of conflict and find a solution for lasting peace in the country ahead of the December election.