Parties to Rome peace talks, mediator pose for photo/photo credit, courtesy

The Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome, Italy has adjourned the peace talks between the government and the South Sudan Non-Signatories Opposition Groups after the parties differed over the meeting agenda.

The Wednesday discussion focused on agenda presented by the parties.

According to the key points shared with Eye Radio, the government proposed that the discussions should focus on security sector reforms, governance, economic and social issues as well as justice

While the non-signatories Opposition Alliance proposed the conduct of an inclusive all-stakeholders round table conference.

In a statement, the leader of the National Salvation Front General Thomas Cirilo said the objective will address the root causes of the conflict in the country.

But the government delegation disagreed, prompting the mediators to adjourn the talks to allow the parties to consult on their views.

He said the call by the opposition alliance for a conference is irrelevant to what the parties agreed on in 2021.

“Of course, the government insisted that the agenda should be relevant to where we stopped in 2021 so that we can take off. Because areas that were signed showed an indication the peace initiative in Roma was moving in a positive direction, ‘ said Dr. Barnaba Mariel Benjamin, the Presidential Affairs Minister and head of the government delegation to the peace talks.

The 2021 deal in Naivasha Kenya was to co-opt Pagan Amum’s and Paul Malong’s groups into the ceasefire monitoring body as part of the 2018 security arrangements implementation.

Minister Mariel says the talks will resume on the 8^th of May 2023.