President William Samoei Ruto of Kenya has accepted to
mediate the peace talks between the government of South Sudan and the holdout
groups in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
In December 2023, South Sudan President Salva Kiir
wrote to Ruto, asking him to take over the Rome Peace talks between the
government and the non-signatories to the 2018 peace agreement.
In response, Ruto has reportedly accepted the request and wrote
to the leaders of the oppositions, giving them a greenlight to prepare for the
discussions.
“President Ruto has responded by writing to General Paul
Malong Awan, the chairman and commander in chief of South Sudan united front
(SSUF/A) and other leaders in the alliance telling them that the Kenya
government is now ready to start mediation anytime from now on,” said Garang
Malual Deng, spokesperson of the South Sudan United Front - one of the holdout
groups.
The government of South Sudan and South Sudan Oppositions Movement Alliance now called non-signatories have been in a peace talks known as Rome Initiative mediated by the Community of Sant Egidio in Rome since 2020.
Three years since the initiation of the discussions, no resolution or political
agreement has yet been struck by the parties.
The Minister of Presidential Affairs, Joseph Bakasoro, says the delay in reaching an agreement prompted Kiir to shift the
discussions from Rome to Kenya for fast resolution.
“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
in December 2023.
Ruto agreed to take over the leadership of the peace talks
from the community of Sant Egidio and he’s already in communication with the
holdout groups’ leaders.
SSUF’s spokesperson said Malong has already responded to
Ruto’s communication.
“General Paul has indeed replied the letter accepting Kenya
going mediating the peace talks. He did that as the chairman of (SSUF/A) the
rest in the alliance will do it on their parties’ behalf,” Garang said.
However, the Radio Community could not independently ascertain the
communication from Ruto. Other groups are yet to issue statements on
Ruto’s communication.
Pagan Amum, leader of the Real SPLM, had earlier said they
were not consulted for the shifting of the negotiation from Rome to Kenya.
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.