By Bosco Bush
First Vice President, Dr Riek Machar Teny contests dimensions of Tumani Initiative, viewing that it intends to swap the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement.
Office of the First Vice President on Wednesday, June 19, 2024, issued a statement highlighting 7 points on a draft document that the peace delegates and mediators are discussing at the Tumaini peace process, in Nairobi.
Dr. Riek Machar leads the major opposition party in the country which is signatory to 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement that led to formation the National Unity Government.
In a letter addressed to the High-Level Mediation, Dr. Machar noted that the “Tumaini Consensus and Implementation Framework for a Permanent Constitution and Sustainable Peace for South Sudan” is in contrast to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCISS).
According to Dr. Machar, the document does not recognize or is apparently designed to replace the R-ARCISS which proposes establishment of alternative institutions, replacing or running separately from the existing ones.
Dr. Machar further outlined that, the Tumaini Initiative has no powers to amend the R-ARCISS, and thus, deviated from its intended mandate.
In addition, he asserted that, the outcome of the Tumaini Initiative is expected to be an annex to the R-ARCISS and not a stand-alone agreement.
Meanwhile, a political analyst upholds the concerns raised by office of the First Vice President over the ongoing Tumaini Initiative in Nairobi, Kenya.
James Boboya Edmond concurred with the FVP, saying, as one of the Principals of the R-ARCISS, Dr. Machar’s concern is “legitimate”
“The concern that Dr. Riek Machar has raised is legitimate because it acts as a reminder for the Tumaini Initiative in Nairobi to stick to the very purpose of what the negotiation is all about,” he said.
Boboya, Analyst with the Institute of Social Policy and Research (ISPR) said that the Tumaini Initiative is supposed to be a supplement of the R-ARCISS, with a mandate to examine loopholes in the 2018 peace agreement.
“The Tumaini process is not supposed to replace the 2018 peace agreement but to supplement.” he added.
Boboya further clarified that, the definition of supplementary in the Tumaini Initiative means some of the gaps in the peace agreement that have not been properly implemented need to be re-examined and discussed.
“A way forward is found on how they should be implemented properly,” he stressed.
Members of the Unity Government and holdout opposition groups are taking part in the high-level peace mediation of the Tumaini Initiative for South Sudan in Nairobi.
Boboya called on the unity government to have a unified position should there be a concern to amend any part of the R-ARCISS.
“The signatories to the current R-ARCISS should conform and accept that there is need for amendment to R-ARCISS itself, allowing the incorporation of the Tumaini peace initiative to be integrated into the current agreement,” Boboya noted.