By William Madouk
Focus is now on the Government of South Sudan and the South Sudan Opposition Movement Alliance (SSOMA) to provide their input into a 75-page document that will be transformed into peace protocols.
Michael Makuei, the Minister of Information and the Rapporteur, stated that the mediators have summarized the presentations made by the parties on four topics: political issues and governance, justice, economic issues, and security issues.
“We made presentations earlier on these four topics, and this presentation has now been summarized and brought to us so that we can agree on them and transform them into protocols,” said Makuei.
Makuei further explained that the mediators presented a 75-page document to the parties, which includes the four items they had discussed.
He noted that the document will be changed into an agreement, adding that ‘we did not come here to do anything rather than to negotiate and agree to operationalize agreement.’
Makuei noted that the Nairobi parties are expediting the implementation of the peace deal by coming up with a new matrix that would allow them to carry out a full peace execution.
“The parties have received the document, and we will look into them, …. So, we have requested three days and that on Monday the parties will be making presentations or responses to this document,” he noted.
“Now, I can say we started the real talks because after this it will be by shuttling – there will not be direct negotiation but will be through shuttling until time when the first draft of the agreement is produced,” he continued.
He assured the people of South Sudan that the Tumaini initiative is on right track but stated that ‘It is a process! it is not an event, so that people should not be expected to come out within a day and night, it is a process, and will achieve its objective.’
In May, The Nairobi parties signed the declaration of commitment – a framework of inclusivity to address the differences and boost the peace process.
The government and members of the SSOMA group denounced violence as a means of resolving the differences and call upon all citizens to engage in constructive dialogue that pave the way for the peaceful resolution of any grievance.
They also agree, to open civic and political spaces, and to allow citizens to participate in peaceful political processes and to respect, protect and guarantee the freedom of expression, assembly and association.
Days ago, The Government of South Sudan and the South Sudan Opposition Movement Alliance (SSOMA) hit yet another milestone after reaching an agreement on the substance of their discussions on the document for building trust.
The document was developed in a confidence-building process that was initiated by the Kenyan mediators to align the contentious issues that were brought up by the delegations during the discussion.