NAS Spokesman, Suba Samuel. (Photo: File).

The National Salvation Front and South Sudan United Front have expressed doubts over President Salva Kiir’s call on them to rejoin the peace process.

Their reactions came after last week’s call by President Salva Kiir on the holdout groups to rejoin the peace wagon to end conflicts in the county.

Kiir said the government was committed to the Rome peace talks and the opposition parties to the deal needed to take it seriously.

He stated that this would enable the country to move towards credible, free and fair elections.

It would also enable the government to shift its focus to combating sub-national violence in the country.

Reacting to the matter, NAS Spokesperson, Suba Samuel Manase told Eye Radio the Juba government is to blame for withdrawing from the Rome talks.

However, Samuel says the previous positions remain unchanged until the root causes of the conflict are addressed.

“We in the National Salvation Front undermined that statement because all of you know when we were in Rome and the peace process was going on well, they [government] decided to withdraw from the peace talks,” said Samuel.

“We, in the National Salvation Front we still affirm in our position, the only way for peace in South Sudan can only be achieved when we can address the root causes of the conflict in the country.”

From his side, the spokesperson of South Sudan United Front, led by Paul Malong, says the group is yet to agree with the government before rejoining the peace process.

Besides, Garang Malual Deng says SSUF doesn’t understand the basis of the president’s call for peace.

“The call for the president to us, we don’t understand it, let them go to Rome, if their delegation is now in Rome, we will be able to join peace. How do we join peace in Juba? asked Deng.

“We have not yet settled on any agreement, if they go to Rome today and we will go there tomorrow, this is where we are negotiating,

“You cannot just call for us to join peace where you’re in Juba, you call for peace when you’re in Italy but you cannot just call for peace in the capital city of South Sudan,

“How do we go there without any agreement, and that’s why i’m saying they not serious. So That call from the president is not clear and is not the first from the government to call for us,

“Now, they are attacking our forces in Northern Bahr El ghazal, these guys are not honest.”

The Sant’Egidio Catholic community-based in Rome, Italy started the mediation between the government and the South Sudan Opposition Alliance SSOMA in November 2019.

The coalition is led by Thomas Cirilo, Paul Malong, and Pagan Amum, among others.

The Sant’Egidio-led mediation is aimed at supporting an inclusive peace agreement in South Sudan by persuading the holdout groups to join the revitalized peace deal signed in September 2018.

In January last year, a meeting between the government and holdout groups led by Pagan Amum and Paul Molang was postponed.

This came following a division among the South Sudan Opposition Alliance leaders in Rome Peace last year.

One SSOMA group broke away after an allegation of undisclosed talks between the government in Juba and the group led by Paul Malong.

This made Pagan Amum, and Paul Malong among others walk out of Rome talks.

However, the Saint-Egidio team agreed with the Kenyan government to have separate talks with splinter groups in Nairobi.

In November 2020, the parties made significant progress as they agreed to negotiate on the federal nature of the government, the issue of powers, the national identity particularly the respect for cultural and ethnic differences, a mechanism for the economy, the reform of the civil sector, and the rights of indigenous communities including the land ownership.

In January 2020, the parties signed a declaration in Rome to observe the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement and further negotiations on the root causes of political violence in South Sudan.

The Sant’Egidio community has maintained that their mediation effort is complementary to the efforts of the IGAD to achieve peace in South Sudan.