President Salva Kiir - June 22, 2022. Photo credit: PPU

President Salva Kiir has called on the holdout groups to rejoin the peace process to end conflicts in the country.

Kiir said the government is committed to the Rome peace talks and that the opposition parties to the deal need to take it seriously.

“I call upon the holdout groups to return home and join us in the peace making. We do not want rebels in our country,” he said during the graduation of forces.

Different armed groups which were not signatories to the 2018 peace agreement have been engaged in talks with the unity government in Rome, Italy.

In the coalition known as SSOMA, were the National Salvation Front led by Thomas Cirilo, South Sudan United Front of Paul Malong, and the Real-SPLM of Pagan Amum, among others.

Saint’Egidio Catholic Community in Rome started the mediation between the government and the South Sudan Opposition Alliance in November 2019.

The Rome talks aim at supporting an inclusive peace agreement in South Sudan by persuading the holdout groups to join the revitalized peace deal signed in September 2018.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the first batch of unified forces, President Kiir said the holdout groups must return home to enable the country move towards credible, free and fair elections.

“We are committed to the Sant’Egidio Rome framework and we encourage all of you to also take it seriously so that all of us participate in building our country together as people of one nation.”

It will also enable the government to shift its focus to combating inter-communal violence in the country, he asserted.

“We want to disarm our civilians so that we combat community violence, eradicate cattle rustling, improve local security and end gender-based sexual violence and inter-communal fighting, there is nothing which we cannot solve. ”

The roundtable discussion between the government and holdout groups was postponed in January last year, following a division among the SSOMA coalition.

The National Salvation Front pulled out of the talks in protests leaving only Malong and Pagan groups, after the mysterious killing of its General in northern Uganda.

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

But hopes of keeping the Rome peace-talks moving were dashed, when the government pulled out after last year’s deadly attack on a civilian convoy headed for religious festivities.

However, the unity government took a U-turn on its decision and revived the negotiations,which finally saw the SSOMA appointing members the joint security mechanisms.