President Salva Kiir has shifted the negotiation with the the non-signatories from Rome to Kenya in search for quicker negotiation’s outcomes.
Kiir asks Kenyan president Dr. William Samoei Ruto to take over the mantle of mediation from the community of Sant Egidio in Rome to Nairobi in search for a deal with the holdout groups -non-signatories.
According to the minister of presidential affairs, Jospeh Bakasoro, the mediation of Sant Egidio has taken long time without bearing fruits prompting Kiir to ask for Ruto intervention.
“The peace process in Sant Egidio has been long. So, the president decided to shift it to Kenya. We are shifting it to Kenya to see whether it will take short time this time,” Bakasoro told The Radio Community.
Non-signatories are groups that did not sign the 2018 revitalized peace agreement of the resolution of conflict in South Sudan.
Since the negotiations between the groups and the government was initiated by the Community of Sant Egidio in Rome in 2020 where the parties signed a declaration of principles towards resolving years of conflict, there has never been a political agreement achieved.
The holdout groups and the government agreed to engage in political dialogue to seek reconciliation and stabilization by addressing the root causes of the conflict in South Sudan, but they have continued to disagree till date.
The parties were to come back to the table in May 2023 after they ended March discussion in deadlocked, but the parties never report back for discussion until the office of the president reveal the shifting of the discussion.
The holdout groups include, Real SPLM led by Pagan Amum; National Salvation front (NAS) of Thomas Cirilo; South Sudan United Front (SSUF/A) led by Paul Malong; and National Democratic Movement-Patriotic Front (NDM-PF) of Emmanuel Ajawin.
