President Salva Kiir (from right) and President William Samoei Ruto meet in Juba hold discussions in Juba. (Photo: Office of the President.)
South Sudanese citizens have commended President Salva Kiir and his Kenyan counterpart William Ruto for directing Tumaini Initiative mediation team to reconvene and resolve the outstanding issues within two weeks.
The two leaders commended the parties for drafting and initializing nine protocols so far, in a joint statement on Wednesday, and directed the mediation team to reconvene and resolve the outstanding issues within two weeks.
Meanwhile, both leaders agreed to secure regional endorsement of the Tumaini Initiative.
They urged the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to mobilize resources and goodwill of the international community including the TROIKA and other countries to enable full implementation of the initiative.
It’s not clear what the outstanding issues are, but the Kenyan-led mediation for South Sudan peace process stalled since August after the SPLM-IO reneged from the process, arguing the protocols proposed institutions were parallel or replaced some of those under the R-ARCSS.
The opposition also said the Tumaini Iniative undermined the sovereignty of South Sudan by establishing five institutions with the head and deputies to be appointed by the regional body, IGAD.
These include the Security Supervision Mechanism, Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism, Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, National Transitional Committee, and Strategic Defense and Security Review Board to be co-chaired by the parties to the 2018 agreement.
Reacting to the meeting of President Kiir and Ruto, some members of the public have expressed optimism that the peace process will yield fruits urged further inclusion of other non-signatories including generals Thomas Cirilo and Simon Gatwech, among others.
Joseph from Munuki in Juba, said President Ruto has revived hope for lasting peace in South Sudan through his determination to include oppositions groups in the peace deal.
He said South Sudanese want peace while the political leaders are seeking agreements that will guarantee them power.
“What the leaders want is agreement after agreement to extend their period in power, and that is the problem of peace not being in place. We have faith in Kenya and Lazarus Sumbeiywo who was the mediator of peace agreement in 2005, so we have no doubt about him,” he said.
“There is no need to always talk about peace talks and it stalls, since they said the talks should resume in two weeks, we hope it will come up with a positive results,” said Mama Mary from Gurei residential area.
“We are tired, people are dying from hunger, we are losing our children, some expectant mothers often die in labor because they are hungry, so I urge our leaders in the Tumaini to listen to these voices.”
Deng Diing from Wau: “We are actually glad as citizens that William Ruto wants peace in South Sudan and he is a very potential young leader.”
“Look what happened in Kenya when there was a big demonstration, he convinced his people and did what people wanted. So that is supposed to also happen in South Sudan.”
“Democracy is when you respect the rights and views of the people. Our rights must be respected and when we call [President Kiir] remove people, he must remove them, looking for solution, not his solution but a solution for the people of South Sudan.”
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