President Salva Kiir, yesterday while addressing the first joint session of the reconstituted parliament, again blamed the South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) for road ambushes and attacks and said the government has paused participation in the Rome talks until such attacks cease. 

Two weeks ago, two nuns and other travelers were killed in a grisly ambush along the Juba which President Kiir attributed to the National Salvation Front (NAS), a member of SSOMA, and at the time he threatened to pull out of the Sant’Egidio mediated Rome talks. 

He told parliament that the government had signed the Rome Declaration and Rome Resolution, the Recommitment to the Cessation of Hostilities, and the Declaration of Principles with the SSOMA but that elements of the latter have continued carrying out attacks. 

“Now that SSOMA, specifically the NAS elements continue to violate these commitments, we have decided to pause the ongoing Sant’Egidio led Rome Peace Initiative,” President Kiir said. “Our pursuit of an inclusive peace should never be taken for a weakness and used as a window to kill the innocent.”

He added: “Talks with SSOMA will only resume after they cease from killing the innocent and show their commitment to the documents they have signed in Rome. It is only when they meet these conditions that genuine dialogue with them will resume.”

In what amounted to a threat, President Kiir also said, “I know SOMA has members here but we will still get you.” 

In his speech which tackled various issues, the president also said the fallout within the SPLM/A-IO is a matter of concern for all and called on the protagonists to resolve their internal issues peacefully using dialogue. 

“The recent disagreement within the SPLM/A-IO is a matter of concern to all of us and I am urging our brothers and sisters within the SPLM-IO Party to pursue dialogue and end this dispute peacefully,” President Kiir said. "We have covered a long distance in our work to implement the Revitalized Peace Agreement.”

The president said ending insecurity is the key to the country’s progress and that it undermines peace impedes genuine debate.

“Ending insecurity to our country is the key to our progress. We all know insecurity can undermine peace. Insecurity also creates chaos that prevents genuine debate on the future of the country,” he said. “Unless we solve the issue of insecurity, South Sudan will not be peaceful, our economy will not grow and our people will remain undeveloped.”    

President Kiir reminded the lawmaker that the final mandate is to hold a free and fair election and challenged them to expeditiously embark on enacting legislation that is vital to the implementation of the peace agreement. 

“The challenges you will face in moving this process forward are huge. To expedite peace implementation, you need to pick up where the National Constitutional Amendment Committee (NCAC) has stopped,” Kiir said. “This body has already worked on a number of laws that are critical to the implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement. It has reviewed most of the petroleum, security, and institutional reform laws.”