Telar Riing Deng, South Sudan’s former presidential adviser, commended the initiative taken by the Sudanese government to host face-to face-talks between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar.
Telar, according to an article released to the public on Thursday, said solutions to end the ongoing conflict would come from the South Sudanese leaders by taking advantage of the platforms being offered.
“It is high time we forget about the past and work together to bring a lasting solution to the civil war that is ravaging our country. Foreign intervention might not really bring the solutions we need as a country but will give us a platform in which we will be able to find our own solutions as South Sudanese. Therefore, we thank Sudan for giving us a platform on which President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Dr. Riek Machar will be able to meet on a face-to-face basis,” he wrote.
The former ambassador to Russia, underlined it was also important to recognize the other opposition groups aggrieved by the way in which things were being done in the country.
“However, as they also meet, it is very important to be cognizant of the fact that we have quite a number of movements in South Sudan who may have been aggrieved by the way things are run in the country. These parties also need to be included in the peace talks and given a chance at the table. I believe if all parties are brought together, we would be fostering quite a number of things, first, we would be bring all the different ideas to the table,” he said.
“Our solutions lie in these ideas. Secondly, we would also be fostering multi-party democracy in our young nation. This would assist us in fostering a feeling of unity among the followers of various political ideologies and would also prevent one political ideology from being dominant. Our citizens would feel involved because they also have parties they support. The inclusivity of all the parties will help us realize the peace that we all desire,” he added.
The former official thanked all the IGAD member states for unrelenting support accorded to South Sudan for some years now. He pointed out that a mistake was initially made BY excluding opposition leader Riek Machar from the peace talks.
“As we give credit where it’s due, we should also speak out on the vices. It was a miscalculation not to include Dr. Riek Machar in the peace talks on IGADs part. IGAD should also include the newly formed parties that are already on the ground,” he appealed.