The Communist Party of South Sudan on Monday expressed concerns over the participation of political parties in the Nairobi Peace Talks dubbed the Tumaini Initiative between the Government of South Sudan and the holdout groups.
Speaking exclusively to Radio Tamazuj, Joseph Wol Modesto, the Secretary General of the Communist Party of South Sudan, lauded the talks saying it is a good initiative but lacks proper representation of the people.
“We would be satisfied as Communist Party of South Sudan if this Tumaini Initiative was to involve all South Sudanese Political Parties including the holdout political parties or groups who cannot come and sit in Juba then their people sit down,” Wol said. “We have one very important thing and that is representation. The SPLM should come to this negotiation as SPLM not as the government because they will always refer back to their government for directives but as a political party, they will know the situation of South Sudanese people because they live within the people. The people know the difficulties we face in this country. So, with all the other political parties, they will be able to reach a consensus on something good.”
He said when the delegates come back to Juba for instructions, the problems will not be resolved
“Things did not go ahead in the past because when we go for meetings it was a meeting between political parties and SPLM as a government so normally they do not represent the position of the people whom they represent as parties, they represent themselves as government,” he explained. “Nothing was going ahead and nothing was implemented because the government took a different position. So, we do not want this thing to be the same and there is still time now to go back to guarantee the implementation of whatever they will agree on in Nairobi.”
He also said the Tumaini initiative is not resolving the main issues facing the country.
“The Tumaini thing is now talking about the constitution-making process yet this is not the time for that. It is important to have time for the constitution-making process but not now. The thing will be done after we have finished without problems because we have real problems which must be solved first,” he stated. “There should be a government of technocrats to take over the situation after and this government which we have now should be dissolved and a new government takes over after the negotiation but the talks in Nairobi is still going to maintain the same government which means the same incompetence will also be maintained.”