By Yiep Joseph
The High-Level Mediation for Tumaini Initiative between South Sudan government and non-signatories to 2018 peace agreement is set to resume talks next week.
This decision follows a meeting between Kenyan President William Ruto and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir in Juba on Wednesday.
The two leaders instructed the mediators to conclude the talks.
In response to the two heads of state communique, Lazaro Sumbeiywo, Chief Mediator for High-Level Mediation for South Sudan, issued a statement calling on all the stakeholders to turn up for the talks on Monday.
According to the statement extended to the media, Chief Mediator Lazaro revealed that he called for the resumption of the talks to meet the time frame set by the two presidents.
“Following the resolution on the way forward for the Tumaini Peace Initiative, the High-Level Mediation for South Sudan would like to inform the stakeholders that the talks will resume on November 11, 2024, with a view to concluding within the proposed time frame of two weeks,” the statement partly read.
The Chief Media added that the decision is to respond to the head of state call that called on the mediators to solve all the outstanding issues.
On Wednesday, during a high-level meeting between President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Kenya’s President, Dr. William Samoei Ruto, the Tumaini Initiative Peace Mediators were directed to reconvene and resolve any outstanding issues within two weeks before the final signature.
Meanwhile, on the same day after meeting Kenyan President Dr. William Ruto, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir issued a decree relieving his presidential special envoy, Albino Mathom Ayuel, who was also the head of the government’s negotiating team in the talks.
Meanwhile, the resumption of the talks in Nairobi is welcomed by the civil society, which calls on the parties to now use the opportunity to reach a deal.
Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director for Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), said that the resumption of the talks on the Tumaini Initiative is a strategic political process to gain stability in the country by including the holdout group.
He urged President Salva Kiir to direct the return of the government delegation to the Tumaini Initiative talks in Nairobi.
“The remaining time from the previous extended transitional period of four months should be used for the completion of the Tumaini Initiative peace process and linking the outcomes of the Tumaini talks and R-ARCSS [Revitalized Peace Agreement] pending tasks through a concrete and clearly developed implementation matrix with a focus on elections in December 2026,” he said.
Tumaini Initiative was launched on May 9, 2024, in Nairobi.
In December 2023, South Sudan’s President Kiir requested President Ruto to take over the mediation lead from the Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome, Italy, saying that the talks with the opposition group had taken long without reaching a solution.
The Kenya-led peace talks halted in July after some government representatives raised concerns over some peace mechanisms adopted in the negotiations.
The holdout groups participating in the Kenya-led Tumaini Initiative peace process include the Real-Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, led by Pagan Amum; the South Sudan United Front, led by Paul Malong Awan, the former chief of staff of the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF); and the South Sudan People’s Movement/Army (SSPM/A), led by Gen. Stephen Buoy Rolnyang.