The South Sudanese Government signs a new principle of peace agreement with several armed groups in Nairobi

This new pact still leaves out the main rebel movement in the country, nevertheless invited to new negotiations

May 17. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The South Sudanese Government signed this past Thursday in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi, a new principle of peace agreement with several armed groups that refused to accept the first one signed in 2020.

The head of the Joint Monitoring Commission of the peace agreements in South Sudan, retired general Charles Tai Gitai, has announced that both the Government and the rebel groups have signed what he described as “a declaration of commitment to the process of peace mediation underway in Nairobi”.

These negotiations, known as Tumaini (“Hope”, in the Swahili language) are a continuation of previous talks held in Rome (Italy) and seek “a lasting solution to the root causes of the conflict in South Sudan”, the commission said. in your X social network account.

The chief mediator of the talks, retired general Lazarus Sumbeiywo, has given instructions for negotiations to begin on the specific terms of the agreement, as he later stated in comments reported by the Kenyan newspaper ‘The Standard’.

The talks involve the South Sudanese Government and eight organizations comprising civil society groups and armed rebel groups such as the South Sudan People’s Movement/Army, Stephen Buay.

However, Buay himself warned this past weekend that the exclusion in the talks of the country’s main armed rebel group, the so-called Kitgwang faction, a split from the armed movement Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM- IO) led by General Simon Gatwech Dual, will have serious consequences for the future.

After criticizing the absence of his group, the head of international relations of the faction, Jordan Manpiny, warned for his part that other armed opposition groups as important as the National Salvation Front led by General Thomas Cirilo or the Patriotic Front – National Democratic Movement of Emmanuel Ajawin.

However, in a subsequent statement reported by the South Sudanese portal One Citizen, the Nairobi participants have “unanimously invited” both parties to join the new talks derived from the pact reached on Thursday.

“We have agreed that this process will be an inclusive dialogue with the participation of all South Sudanese stakeholders, including the reconstituted transitional government of South Sudan and opposition parties that are not signatories to the Juba agreement,” they said. know.