By William Madouk
Government delegation to Tumaini Talks requested a pause in negotiations to allow them to return to Juba to prepare for start of extension transitional period.
Speaking to journalists, Martin Elia Lomuro, the government rapporteur, confirmed that Kuol Mayang Juuk, the chair of the government delegation, requested a short break in the talks to allow the delegation to consult and prepare for the next phase of the peace process.
“The head of delegation decided that we would adjourn and that we would return on Saturday or Sunday because we have a task to do in Juba where the transition extended transition,” he said.
“And we have to prepare ourselves to usher in that transition so that the institutions that are concerned with the implementation of that, of the R-ACSS are led, managed to prepare their programs for the next transition,” he added.
The next transitional period starts on February 22, 2024.
Mr. Lomuro explained that Juuk is also the chairperson of the National Transitional Committee (NTC), tasked with overseeing the implementation of the 2018 peace deal.
“We feel that it’s very important [return to Juba] because the head of delegation now is also the head of the NTC and four of us are in the high-level standing committee that is in charge of the agreement,” he said.
However, he noted that the mediators of the Tumaini Initiative have yet to determine their request.
Lomuro explained the parties to Tumaini talks had managed to identify 19 factors as the root causes of the conflicts, which were later on subdivided into seven headings.
He alleged that opposition responses and concerns are mostly addressed by R-ARCSS.
Mr. Lomuro, who also serves as minister of cabinet affairs revealed that they disagreed with UPA over the notion linking failure of political leadership as a root cause of the conflict.
“But I want to tell our people that this is probably the most important subject that has been bothering us since Addis Ababa to Khartoum to Rome, and no one pinpointed exactly what they are. Finally, we got them,” he said.
“We have agreed to form a committee to fine-tune and harmonize this issue on the root causes, we formed a little committee,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lual Dau, the United People’s Alliance (UPA) Spokesperson said “Let me inform you that, as UPA, we believe and we summarize the root cause of conflict in South Sudan into two main root causes of conflict, only two,” Lomuro added.
“First, it is a strategic failure of political leadership. Second, is a power struggle. There are other underlying contributing factors to the conflict in South Sudan, and these actually are the result of these two main things,” he continued.
He said the strategic failure of political leadership has almost 16 points, such as a lack of a national vision and a strategic direction for South Sudan.
Dau cited that another issue is a dysfunctional system of governance, politicization and weaponization of ethnicities.
“We need a national army that also Sudanese see themselves in it. Again, the issue of land occupation, land disputes, land grabbing. You can see our people in Malakal, they used to live together in peace – Now, and the very community is divided along tribal lines because of the land.”
“Our people in Equatoria also divided because of the issue of land. And when someone raises the issue of land, you will be told we have liberated you,” he said.