South Sudan talks resume in Rome, clouded by discordant opposition

The talks have resumed in Rome and involve the government, the Real SPLM, headed by secretary-general Pagan Amum, and the South Sudan United Front (SSUF), headed by Gen Paul Malong (nation.africa)

As South Sudan celebrated eleven years of independence on July 9, negotiations between the government and holdout groups are on slippery ground as those still in the opposition are deeply divided.

The conveners of peace talks between the government and the South Sudanese Opposition Movement Alliance (SSOMA) – the Sant'Egidio Catholic Community of Italy – have been forced to conduct separate sessions due to the divisions. 

The talks have resumed in Rome and involve the government, the Real SPLM, headed by secretary-general Pagan Amum, and the South Sudan United Front (SSUF), headed by Gen Paul Malong, but without groups allied to the National Salvation Front (NAS), headed by Gen Thomas Cirillo.

The first objective of the process is to convince the holdouts and the government to fully implement the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) of 2017 that all parties signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, before the remaining rebels rejected the September 2019 revitalised peace agreement.

Concern is rising about continued fighting between government forces and NAS, especially in Western and Central Equatoria. The process that began with an induction training course was to ensure that all parties had a common understanding of their obligations as signatories to the CoHA.

Gen Cirillo told Nation.Africa that the current engagement in Rome is specifically for groups led by Mr Amun and Gen Malong because these two organisations left SSOMA and decided to have parallel peace talks with Juba.

Gen Cirillo had in July last year expelled Gen Malong and Mr Amum from SSOMA on the grounds that they were holding separate talks with President Salva Kiir outside the Sant'Egidio process. But in an interview, Gen Cirillo maintained that NAS does not have a problem with any opposition group in South Sudan.

“NAS is always on record that it has only a problem with the regime of Salva Kiir in Juba, and will continue to maintain this posture until this overarching problem is addressed. So, we don’t have a problem with other opposition holdouts,” said Gen Cirillo.

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

Mr Amum, the leader of Real SPLM, said significant progress had been made in Rome since July last year when his and Gen Malong's SSUF signed a memorandum of understanding to respect the cessation of hostilities and agreed on the agenda for future talks.

The latest Rome process is supposed to review the “Declaration of Principles”, including the federal nature of government and the division of powers; national identity and respect for ethnic, cultural, and linguistic differences; and the creation of a National Constitutional Conference (NCC).

The parties are also anticipated to discuss previous documents on civil and public sector reforms, including restructuring the security sector, internal borders between the regions of the nation, and respect for indigenous communities' territories and rights.

SSOMA was formed in February 2018 as a coalition of political parties and armed groups opposed to President Kiir. However, some of them, including Dr Riek Machar’s SPLM-IO, broke away to sign the agreement, while others fought on.

Despite the divisions within SSOMA, some progress has been made since June, when Real SPLM and SSUF agreed to start the deployment of their representatives into the Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (CTSAMVM) structures by August 15, 2022.

The two organisations have also agreed to train all their forces and affiliates under their command and control to ensure full compliance and undertake to hold their forces accountable for violations of CoHA. They are also supposed to declare the sizes and locations of their forces to CTSAMVM before August 1.

But NAS, which declined to sign the 2018 agreement because it did not include the concept of federalism, said the Rome process is being slowed down by the government failure to implement the revitalised agreement due to expire in February 2023.

“The question is if the government is unwilling to implement the revitalised agreement; what difference will it make to implement the Rome peace process?” said Gen Cirillo.

“The answer is absolutely no, basically because the government lacks the political will to implement any agreement whatsoever.”