President Salva Kiir shakes hands with CEPO leader Edmund Yakani after a meeting in Juba. (-)

A civil society activist called on President Salva Kiir to disregard “spoilers” of the Tumaini Initiative within the unity government, after the Kenya-led peace negotiation recently hit a deadlock.

Edmund Yakani – Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) – alleged that there are individuals in the government who are working against the Nairobi peace process.

Without naming them, Yakani said those individuals intend to sabotage the process due to fear that they might lose their positions.

He also called on First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar to do the same and disregard voices encouraging him to turn his back against the Tumaini Initiative.

“There are huge Tumaini spoilers across the board and most of those spoilers are individuals who just want to provide misinterpretation on outcomes of Tumaini for their personal gain,” he said on Eye Radio’s Dawn Show.

“This is a group of people I describe them as individuals who are profiteers of our suffering, they are people who feel so proud and happy when the citizens continue suffering under the circumstances that we are in now.”

Yakani further argued that the Nairobi peace negotiations is a mere continuation of the Rome peace process previously mediated by the Sant’Egidio Community, and are in no way a replacement of the R-ARCSS.

“They want to convince President and First Vice President to reject Tumaini, and there is this language of let’s implement the agreement. Why were you not implementing in the last five years if you are really serious?”

The activist further claimed that parties forming the unity government are currently praying for an extension of the transitional period.

“That’s why I’m saying the review of the roadmap is already a death penalty. The only option they have is Tumaini, which offers them a very healthy ground.”

Edmund Yakani then called on President Kiir to deal with the those intending to derail the Kenyan-lead peace mediation for South Sudan.

“If H.E. President allow the spoilers to make Tumaini fail, it is a game of name and shame, because it is H.E. President who commissioned Tumaini with the best interest.”

“Remember he has promised several times under his leadership the country will not return back to violence, and that’s why under his leadership, he wants to make sure everybody on board for transition the country, we have struggled jointly for 21 years, that’s really the spirit of a leader we need.”

“But today there are people around him who want to undermine that call. Your Excellency President these people are naming and shaming you by making Tumaini fail. The spoilers need to be dealt directly by the President, prayers will not help these spoilers to get finish.”

The Tumaini Initiative, which started in May 2024, is a South Sudanese peace talk between the government and the opposition parties that were not signatories to the 2018 peace agreement.

The peace talks have since been overshadowed by the withdrawal of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) after rejecting its initialed protocols, which it argued established alternative institutions to the 2018 peace deal.