Various sources have told Radio Tamazuj that the Tumaini Initiative peace talks mediated by the Government of Kenya between the Transitional Government of South Sudan and the South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) and other holdout opposition groups have stalled.
A source from the opposition who preferred anonymity, because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the government team has asked for the talks to be adjourned because they are against the agreed Tumaini Consensus and they are reneging on their original position which was agreed on 16 September 2024.
“We agreed with the previous [government] delegation on all the nine protocols except responsibility sharing but even some of the positions were given to us,” he explained. “So, what was left was for the government delegation to go home and come back to finish the issue of responsibility sharing but now they came back with a new position and they are reneging on everything that was agreed with the previous delegation.”
The source added: “The government did not only change the delegation, but they have also changed their position which reneging from the agreed protocols.”
A source close to the government delegation revealed that they have decided to return to Juba on Sunday 15 December 2024.
“We actually booked our return tickets when we were coming. So, we knew we were coming to renege and destroy the Tumaini Consensus and leave,” he stated. “So, this whole thing was set before we even came by the anti-Tumaini elements within the transitional government.”
Another livid opposition source said that the last time the government delegation came with observations over the protocols, they discussed them only for them to return with more reservations and observations which were again considered.
“They have now come to renege and do not want those protocols anymore and they are coming with a new position,” he said
Asked what the new position of the government is, the opposition figure said they do not know because they are resisting it.
“We discussed with the previous delegation, the stakeholders, and the mediation that the talks will start where they stopped. You can change the delegation but you cannot change positions. So, we are telling them [government] that let us start from where we stopped but they do not want that and they are coming with a new position which they did not share with us yet,” he explained. “The going back of the government delegation was preplanned and was not an accident because they bought return tickets and were coming only for two weeks.”
Another source who spoke off the record said that upon learning about the imminent return of the government delegation to Juba on Sunday, President William Ruto intervened and stopped them, the opposition, and the stakeholders and said they should not leave Kenya without making progress because the people of South Sudan are suffering.
Asked what they have been discussing for the last two weeks, the opposition figure said the government delegation has been insisting on a new position and that they have been going back and forth on the issue.
“So, technically the talks have collapsed yet we planned to discuss the issue of power-sharing and sign the agreement and give it to the people of South Sudan as a Christmas gift,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, a member of the government team intimated that Cabinet Affairs Minister Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro who is also the rapporteur of the government delegation collapsed and has been in a hospital in South Africa for the last three days.
In December 2023, President Salva Kiir requested President William Ruto of Kenya to take over the mediation lead from the Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome, Italy, saying that the talks with the holdout opposition group had taken long without reaching a solution. The talks started in Nairobi on 9 May but halted in July after representatives of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar walked out but resumed last week after a newly constituted government delegation arrived in Nairobi.