Pagan Amum and General Paul Malong Awan [Courtesy]

A pre-consultation meeting between the transitional government and holdout opposition groups kicked off in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Thursday, amid reservation from some of the armed groups.

This is according to the spokesperson of South Sudan United Front, a member of the South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance or SSOMA.

Garang Malual confirmed that Kenya has commenced a pre-mediation process in a bid to peacefully settle the conflict between the groups left out of the 2018 peace deal and the unity government.

Malual, who speaks for the party of General Paul Malong, said his group is ready to be mediated by the Kenyan government, as the government of South Sudan will commit to the talks.

All the SSOMA members, except the National Salvation Front and South Sudan Independent Movement of Stephen Buay, are present in the Nairobi peace negotiations.

“There are pre-consultations, but the peace talks have not kicked off officially,” he told Eye Radio from Nairobi.

“We have not been told by the mediators of how long it will take the parties who supposed to be here. The agenda of the consultations is on how we are going to start, and a delegation of the government is here.”

The peace talks, previously hosted in Italy, are aimed at supporting an inclusive peace agreement in South Sudan by persuading the hold-out groups to join the revitalized peace deal signed in September 2018.

The Rome-based Sant’Egidio Community, adjourned the peace talks between South Sudan’s  transitional government and the non-signatories South Sudanese opposition groups after they disagreed on the agenda of the peace talks in March 2023.

In December last year, President Kiir, through the Minister of Presidential Affairs Bangasi Joseph Bakasoro, asked the Kenyan President to mediate between the government and the non-signatories to the September 2018 peace agreement.

However, there are some reservations within the SSOMA, with some members said they are not comfortable with Kenya as the mediator.

The unity government has since proposed that the discussions focus on security sector reforms, political and governance, economic and social issues and justice.

Meanwhile, the non-signatory group proposed the conduct of an inclusive round table discussion.