South Sudan Draft Peace Deal Creates Leadership Council

Delegates attending the high-level peace talks on South Sudan in Nairobi, Kenya on Thursday (AP photo)

June 23, 2024 (JUBA) – A draft peace agreement from South Sudan peace talks underway in neighboring Kenya creates a leadership council, rebranding the structure of the presidency and limiting the role of the cabinet and legislature.

It maintains the current structure with the president and expanded presidency to accommodate additional two members from opposition groups signatory to the Tumaini Initiative.

The draft rebrands the presidency with a structure dubbed the national leadership to provide leadership and guidance to the Joint Defense Board, the National Constitution Review Commission, the National Elections Commission, the Political Parties Council, and other agencies with relevant mandates to the implementation of the Tumaini Framework.

“The decision of the NLC (National Leadership)  shall be final and not subject to approval by the Cabinet or Legislature. The decision making in the NLC shall be by consensus and instead of that, by two thirds (2/3rd) majority”, partly reads the draft document Sudan Tribune obtained.

Highly-placed presidential sources told Sudan Tribune on June 23, 2024, that the draft was on 20 June presented by the Information minister to President Salva Kiir.

The office of the president is yet to provide written comments and responses to the mediation team. It will be studied by the legal administration and the select advisers to make analysis and recommendations.

The draft, widely circulated in the social media platforms run by supporters of the parties participating in the talks in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, outlined the structures of a new transitional government in South Sudan.

The 25-paged document provides details of an inclusive governance structure and responsibility sharing among the government, opposition groups, and other stakeholders, covering areas such as executive roles, legislature, security, constitutional processes, and elections management.

The opposition groups are a faction of the South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) of Gen. Paul Malong and Pagan Amum, the South Sudan United National Alliance (SSUNA) led by Gen. Stephen Buoy Rolnyang, and National Salvation Front-Revolutionary Command led by Gen. Mario Loku Thomas. Other stakeholders are the civil society, academia, and faith-based groups.

The parties and stakeholders reiterated their commitment to transparent and accountable management of resources and agreed to manage all revenues and public resources effectively.

It shows parties have agreed on governance and responsibility-sharing areas to include justice sector reforms, ceasefires, security arrangements, and reforms. The document talks of the reconstitution of the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) Board, which shall consist of the representatives of the armed opposition groups, to formulate and implement a comprehensive security sector reform that provides for creating a unified army and reconstituting the other organized forces.

The draft document shows parties to have agreed to revitalize, structure, and reconstitute the National Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC) to expand membership and provide an all-inclusive Commission of the constitution-making.

The agreement pointed out a consensual understanding of enhancing inclusivity in the structures and processes of constitution-making.

The agreement mandates the NCRC to organize and facilitate a National Constitutional Conference, which will be held in South Sudan, and that the conference will be preceded by mini consultative conferences in the region and diaspora, which Tumaini Initiative and other partners shall facilitate.

It says “Mini consultative conferences will provide South Sudanese living outside the country the opportunity to participate in the Permanent Constitution Making process”.

Leadership Council

The parties and stakeholders agreed to establish a National Leadership Council (NLC) that shall be the national guarantor of the implementation of the Tumaini Framework.

Confidence-Building

The parties and stakeholders agreed to form a Regional High-Level Panel of Heads of State and Government, which shall be composed of heads of state and government from the region and whose responsibilities and roles shall be to monitor and oversee the agreement in liaison with the National Leadership Council.

The draft document states that the Tumaini Framework supersedes all previous agreements concerning implementation plans, structures, and processes in so far as they do not align with the roadmap set out in this framework.

According to the document, the transitional period will ensure the conclusion of the national census, boundary delimitation, voter education and registration, finalization of the constitution and elections.

The parties and stakeholders, the document said, agreed to release the political prisoners and detainees after the signing of the peace agreement and that the government shall fully take measures to guarantee the freedom of movement of political leaders in and outside of South Sudan.

“The government shall take immediate and appreciative measures to guarantee, without exception, the freedom of expression fully and all persons in South Sudan, including freedom of the media and access to information according to the law,” it states.

It added, “Parties and stakeholders in the Tumaini Initiative shall make a confidence-building visit to  Juba, South Sudan, and hold a joint public forum to jointly declare, publicize, and commit to the roadmap for implementation of the framework.”

Key institutions

According to the document, the parties and stakeholders commit to enhancing measures to reform the justice system, including prioritizing the establishment of the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation, and Healing and the Compensation (CTRH) and Reparation Authority (CRA).

Other institutions to be established include the Hybrid Court of South Sudan (HCSS) and the implementation of the judicial reforms outlined in the 2018 peace agreement.

On June 19, 2024,   First Vice President Riek Machar protested how the mediation had organized the draft, citing deviations from its mandate to undermine key aspects of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.

In a protest letter to the chief mediator of the Kenya-led talks, the opposition leader raised concerns that the draft document established alternative institutions to replace or run parallel with those established by the previous peace agreement.

According to Machar, the current peace talks in Kenya should complement and not obliterate the original agreement.

The opposition leader signed an agreement with Kiir in 2018 after a five-year civil war that had claimed lives, caused destruction and displacements.

The deal saw Machar appointed as the First Vice President, with the allocation of some representatives in the cabinet forming a national unity government.

(ST)