South Sudan peace talks resume in Nairobi

Stakeholders at a past session of the Tumaini Initiative.

Photo credit: Pool

South Sudan peace talks resumed on Monday in Nairobi, signalling renewed hope after weeks of speculation and delays.

The talks, known as Tumaini Initiative, resumed after a five-day delay originally set for January 15. The initiative brings together the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) in South Sudan and holdout groups.

On Monday, the focus was on preliminary consultations before the main agenda kicks off on Tuesday at the Glee Hotel.

The TGoNU delegation arrived in Nairobi on January 18. Kuol Manyang Juuk, head of the government delegation, said they are more serious this time.

“We are coming back to Nairobi with the same spirit. We are telling our people that there is no need to oppose the government from outside while there are political parties which they could use to prepare themselves for elections in December 2026,” he said.

The holdout groups are so-called because they stayed out of the 2018 peace deal known as the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), mediated by regional bloc, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad).

The talks began mid last year but broke off towards the end, first when government officials travelled back to Juba ostensibly for consultations, and later when they were paused for end-year holidays. 

The chief mediator, Lt-Gen (Rtd) Lazarus Sumbeiywo, and his team first held separate consultations with the government delegation, and then the holdout group before the two groups converged to set the agenda in the afternoon on Monday.

The mood was better this time, which each side expressing readiness and hope to reach a deal.  

It was different from last year when the government delegation defied calls by Kenyan President William Ruto to stay longer and produce some tangible results.

Now, the delegations will focus on the relationship between the R-ARCSS and the Tumaini Initiative, including areas of overlap, mechanisms, and inconsistencies between the two frameworks, responsibility-sharing, and the conclusion of the Tumaini Initiative.

Before the Christmas break last year, the mediators had prepared the Draft Framework for Tumaini Complement to R-ARCSS, seeking to address misgivings from the government delegation that the Nairobi talks were replacing the 2018 peace agreement.

The draft framework seeks to share responsibility through incorporating the holdouts into the transitional government of national unity and include women, youth and persons with special needs in the implementation mechanisms, in line with the principles of inclusivity and diversity.

The parties are supposed to collectively identify any areas of divergence between the Tumaini Protocols and R-ARCSS, to harmonise their complementarity.

The current talks are also supposed to establish a National High-Level Leadership Council (NHLC) to work closely with the presidency on matters relating to the implementation of the agreement.  

The NHLC is required to establish a National Implementation and Oversight Commission (NIOC), as a Secretariat, and its chair will not be from the same party chairing the NHLC.

During the break, the holdout group previously known as the South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (Ssoma), merged under a new umbrella body, the United People’s Alliance (UPA) to increase it bargaining power.

The UPA is headed by the leader of the Real-SPLM, Pagan Amum as the chairperson. Others are Gen Paul Malong Awan as the first deputy chairperson, second deputy chairperson Gen Mario Loku Thomas, chief of general staff Gen Stephen Buay Rolnyang, and secretary-general Lual Dau Marach.

“The UPA emerged as a unified command structure, consolidating Ssoma and other opposition groups. This marks a significant step toward fostering coordination among South Sudan's opposition forces,” the group said in their inaugural statement on January 11.