South Sudan Presidential Advisor on National Security Affairs Tut Gatluak Manime has announced an expanded meeting of the Presidency scheduled for Friday.
The meeting, he said, will deliberate the resumption of the Nairobi Tumaini Peace Initiative, following a report from the High-level Mediation Committee on the ongoing talks between the Government and the Opposition holdout groups.
Speaking to the media after meeting with President Salva Kiir, First Vice-President Riek Machar and other officials, Manime reaffirmed the government’s commitment to lasting peace and stability throughout the nation as it embarks on extensive mediation.
Sources revealed to Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday that President Kiir had selected a 15-member team for the Kenya-mediated talks, paving the way for possible resumption of the negotiations in Nairobi.
On November 6, President Kiir and Kenya’s President William Ruto said they were keen on a time-bound program that should take two weeks to finalize and sign a peace agreement.
The resumption of the Tumaini (hope) Initiative talks was marred by confusion on Monday after the government side failed to turn up at the Nairobi venue.
Last week, Kenyan, Chief Mediator Gen (rtd) Lazaro Sumbeiywo extended invitations to the government and the opposition, aimed at resolving the conflicts. That came after President Ruto’s visit to Juba, where he held talks with Kiir, First Vice-President Riek Machar and other key stakeholders in the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) to resume negotiations.
A few hours after President Ruto’s visit to Juba, Kiir fired the Presidential Special Envoy and Head of the Government Delegation to the Tumaini Initiative, Albino Mathom.
The talks are part of the peace process launched in May 2024, aiming to mediate conflicts involving the holdout opposition groups that have yet to endorse the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
The talks encountered a setback in July, when some government representatives raised concerns over some proposed mechanisms.
The Tumaini Initiative brings together major holdout groups, including the Real Sudan People’s Liberation Movement of Pagan Amum; the South Sudan United Front, led by former SSPDF Chief of Staff Paul Malong Awan; and the South Sudan People’s Movement/Army (SSPM/A), under Gen Stephen Buoy Rolnyang.