The Community of Sant’Egidio on Wednesday evening revealed details of their three-day consultative meeting with a faction of the South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) in Rome, Italy.
The opposition group that was in the meeting includes the National Salvation Front led by General Thomas Cirilo Swaka, the South Sudan Movement for Change (SSMC) led by Alex Yata, and the National Democratic Movement-Patriotic Front (NDM-PF) led by Emmanuel Ajawin.
The three opposition movements had refused to participate in the Kenya High-level Mediation for South Sudan after its launch in Nairobi on 9 May. They cited safety concerns regarding the venue and the lack of response to their request to continue talks in Rome, Italy, with Community Sant’Egidio as co-mediators.
The other South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) faction that unconditionally joined the Nairobi peace talks — dubbed Tumaini, Swahili for hope — includes the South Sudan United Front (SSUF) of former Army Chief Paul Malong and Real-SPLM led by former SPLM Party Secretary-General Pagan Amum.
“From 12th to 14th August 2024 in Rome, at the Community of Sant’Egidio, at the proposal of the special envoy of the Government of South Sudan, a delegation of the SSOMA Leadership Council led by General Thomas Cirillo and the delegation of the South Sudanese Government met at the presence of representatives of the Kenyan Government and the Community of Sant’Egidio,” the Community of Sant’Egidio said in a statement sent to Radio Tamazuj.
The Rome-based lay Catholic association emphasized that the three-day consultative meeting has been an opportunity to present the progress of the Tumaini Initiative as “an ongoing inclusive, open process aimed to galvanize sustainable, fair and genuine peace settlement by the South Sudanese people.”
It pointed out that the consultative talks noted with satisfaction “the open, genuine discussion and the parties’ desire to continue on the path of political dialogue as the only solution to the country’s political crisis, and to foster healing among the South Sudanese people.”
“The meeting further underscored the importance of addressing the divergent positions through political compromise and consultation,” the statement reads in part.
According to the Community of Sant’Egidio, the mediation teams remain available to receive proposals from the SSOMA Leadership Council for the common good of all South Sudanese people.