Tumaini Talks resume on Monday- Lt Gen. Sumbeiywo
The Nairobi-led talks’ Chief Mediator says the talks will resume on 11th November 2024 with a view of concluding within the proposed time frame of two weeks
By Opio Jackson
The Chief Mediator of the Tumaini Peace Initiative, Lt Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo on Friday declared November 11, 2024, as the date for the resumption of the peace talks in Nairobi, Kenya.
“Reference is made to the mission of H.E President William Ruto to Juba on November 6, 2024, and the joint communique, herewith attached,” Gen Lazaro said.
“Following the resolution on the way forward for the Tumaini Peace Initiative, the High-Level Mediation for South Sudan would like to inform the stakeholders that the talks will resume on 11th November 2024 with a view of concluding within the proposed time frame of two weeks,” he stated.
Tumaini Initiative is the peace dialogue that is being mediated by the government of Kenya between the government of South Sudan and the holdout group that did not sign the September 2018 peace accord.
The peace talks were previously held in Rome under the mediation of the Community of Sant’Egidio before it was moved to Kenya in February upon the request of President Salva Kiir.
On Wednesday, November 6, Kenya’s President William Ruto paid an official visit to Juba at the invitation of President Salva Kiir of South Sudan, where the two leaders discussed an array of issues, including mutual cooperation, peace efforts, and critical infrastructure projects between the two nations.
President Ruto acknowledged Kenya’s pivotal role in hosting peace negotiations between South Sudan’s Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGONU) and the holdout groups linked to the R-ARCSS Peace Agreement. Both leaders praised the progress made, and revealed that nine critical protocols had been initialed.
“The constructive dialogue has demonstrated the commitment of all parties toward peace and unity. We are on the brink of significant breakthroughs,” said President Kiir.
Both heads of state directed the mediation teams to resolve the remaining issues within two weeks. The leaders further agreed to secure regional support for the Tumaini Initiative, calling on IGAD to rally resources and the international community’s backing, including the TROIKA countries, for comprehensive implementation.
The Tumaini peace Initiative, a Nairobi-hosted peace dialogue aimed at bringing structured, lasting peace to South Sudan, has had its fair share of hits and misses over the past months, with the parties to the agreement having common ground on other issues and disagreeing on others.
In July this year, First Vice President Riek Machar announced that the main opposition group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), the party he leads, had pulled out from the Tumanini peace Initiative.
Machar, a key principal of the 2018 peace agreement, attributed his exit to what he said was the inititiative undermining the existing agreement and the country’s sovereignty, a move that staggered the future of the peace engagements considering the first vice president’s standing and stature in the agreement.
The opposition faction, SPLM-IO, accused the talks of deviating from their original objectives, particularly through the proposed National Leadership Council (NLC), which, the party feared, could have excessive authority that could potentially overshadow constitutional bodies such as the Presidency, the Council of Ministers, the National Legislature, and the National Security Council. A government deligation, led by the Presidential Special Envoy, Albino Mathem Ayuel, would then visit the First Vice President days after his party’s withdrawal, ostensibly to discuss the significance of the initialed protocols, which would be the basis of the agreement between the government and the holdout groups, with the delegation’s spokesman, Michael Makuei,
