Pagan and Makuei among delegates at Gen. Paul Malong's residence|Photo Courtesy

Gen. Paul Malong on Saturday hosted the delegates to the Tumaini Initiative at his residence in Nairobi to foster trust and confidence-building in what the Deputy Chief Negotiator describes as a bold step towards peace in South Sudan .

On Saturday, the former chief of staff general turned opposition invited government delegation, opposition group members and other stakeholders to the Tumaini at his residence for a get together fellowship.

Speaking during the event, Ambassador Mohammed Guyu, the deputy chief negotiator described the trust and confidence-building as measures to bridge communication gaps.

” In terms of bridging communication, comes the trust and confidence building measures which is a glue or a cement that bridges that communication. That is why trust and confidence building measures is very critical.

“I want to thank the South Sudanese stakeholders, religious leaders, eminent personalities and the entire opposition and the government for taking about four to five days on their own in the absence of the mediation to go through all aspects of confidence building measures and trust and came out with a protocol that is now guiding us.”

For his part, the Minister of Information and Government a rapporteur to the Tumaini Initiative said trust is key to peace implementation.

“Peace cannot come if there is no trust and confidence. We have come here to talk so that we build trust and confidence because the source of all the conflicts in the world is lack of trust and confidence because lack of trust and confidence bring dispute and disagreement.

“We are here to build trust and confidence and this is the beginning. We are building it because from here, we will take it home.

Michael Makuei encouraged the parties and stakeholders to put words into action.

“My message to us all here is that building trust and confidence is not only by words, it must be inculcated into our hearts in the first place,” he added.

 For his part, the head of the non-signatories Pagan Amum said it is possible for South Sudanese leaders to embrace each other.

According to him, this can only be achieved if they care, love and trust one another.

“Yesterday we were enemies, today we are having a fellowship together, tomorrow who will be going to Juba and all other towns in our country taking this one simple message we care for each other, we love ourselves, we trust ourselves, we are doing this for our future generations, it is not difficult,” he said.

The gathering was held under the theme “building trust is the foundation for lasting peace.”