(Juba) South Sudan’s government has suspended its participation in Rome peace talks with rebel groups, which it accuses of using the process ‘to buy time and prepare for war’, according to a letter seen Friday by AFP.
Conducted since 2019, these talks are taking place between the government and several rebel groups that did not sign the 2018 peace agreement, which ended five years of a bloody civil war (nearly 400,000 dead and millions displaced) between the enemies Salva Kiir and Riek Machar.
Since a 2020 ceasefire agreement, which has not been respected, talks have stalled.
Presidential Affairs Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin informed the Catholic community of Sant’Egidio, which mediates, of the government’s decision in a letter dated November 21.
“As we prepared to engage in serious dialogue with the South Sudan Non-Signatories Opposition Group to bring lasting peace to the people of South Sudan, it has come to our attention that this group is using these talks to buy time as he prepares for war,” Mr. Benjamin writes.
“Since this use of the Rome Initiative […] is diametrically opposed to our point of view, the government has taken the decision to suspend discussions with non-signatories until further notice,” he adds.
The government had already announced in 2021 “to pause” these talks, accusing in particular one of these groups, the National Salvation Front (NAS), of deadly attacks in the south of the country. In August, he said he was ready to resume discussions.
Contacts had been reestablished last month by the mediation team, opening the door to a return to negotiations.
The coalition of armed groups – including the National Salvation Front (NAS), the South Sudan United Front (SSUF) and the Real SPLM (the Genuine Sudan People’s Liberation Movement) – announced in October that it would drop its name South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) to call itself South Sudan Non-Signatories Opposition Group.
Eleven years after gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, the world’s youngest country is still plagued by instability and violence.
The 2018 agreement provided for the creation of a government of national unity, formed in February 2020 with Kiir as president and Machar as vice-president. But this government is under the threat of incessant power struggles between the two rivals, which are delaying the implementation of the peace agreement and fueling the endemic violence and the economic crisis which are undermining the country.