Embrace ceasefire, Kiir urges rebels
President Salva Kiir has urged all the rebels to observe the ceasefire as he pledged commitment to the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
This came after he met with the Vice President for Economic Cluster, Wani Igga, the Vice President for Gender and Youth Cluster, Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior, Vice President of Infrastructure, Taban Deng Gai, and the Speaker of the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly (R-TNLA), Jemma Nunu Kumba.
According to the office of the president, the meeting discussed the “general political, economic, and security situation of the country.”
“The meeting deliberated on the status of the ongoing implementation of the Revitalised Peace Agreement and the mechanisms to expedite its implementation,” said James Deng Wal, the executive director in the office of the President.
“The President re-affirmed his commitments to fast-track the ongoing implementation of Revitalised Peace Agreement and has urged the rebel groups to observe the ceasefire.
Wal added that the meeting also discussed security in the whole country, but with particular attention to Western and Central Equatoria states.
The vice presidents and the speaker delivered their condolence messages in solidarity with the president for the loss of his brother, Akook Mayardit Thiik.
Call for talks
The plea comes after Kiir reactivated the Rome talks in late November at the closing ceremony of the governors’ forum, calling on SSOMA groups to prepare for the negotiation.
The development came after countless calls for him to accept the resumption of talks, including the call from Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church. But the National Salvation Front (NAS), led by Thomas Cirilo, maintained that peace was not sustainable.
The president halted the talks after the ambush on the Juba-Nimule highway, which claimed the lives of two Catholic nuns on their return from the celebrations of the Centenary of Loa, which was attended by the president. Kiir blamed the ambush on NAS forces.
In mid-December, the government held talks with delegates from the South Sudan United Front/Army (SSUF/A) of Paul Malong and Real SPLM led by Pagan Amum and agreed the two entities would be included in the ceasefire monitoring mechanism in March 2022.
The Rome talks are expected to resume this month, but the reason for the delay is unknown.
Khartoum peace agreement
On Sunday, President Kiir granted amnesty to the SPLM/A-IO Kit Gwang faction led by Simon Gatwech and Agwelek forces led by Johnson Olony after an agreement was penned in Khartoum for a ceasefire between Kit Gwang and SPLM-IG.
Two days after the signing of the agreement, the First Vice President, Dr Riek Machar, ordered his forces to ceasefire as he said Kit Gwang and Agwelek forces were already part of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF).
He warned of any violation by the aforementioned forces through unsolicited confrontation, saying any attack would be attributed to the SSPDF. He called on President Kiir to direct the SSPDF and the Kit Gwang and Agwelek forces not to commit any violations but remain committed to the 2018 Khartoum declaration.
