Kenya Commences Pre-mediation Role in South Sudan Talks

President Williams Ruto of Kenya shakes hands with President Salva Kiir in Nairobi on August 19, 2023 (SS presidency photo)

February 13, 2024 (JUBA) – Kenya has commenced pre-mediation process to peacefully settle a political feud in South Sudan between the holdout groups and the Transitional Government of National Unity under President Salva Kiir.

President Kiir, in a statement broadcast by the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation on Monday, received a letter from his Kenyan counterpart William Ruto, highlighting the focus on peace mediation efforts between the government and the holdout groups.

Kenyan envoy, Charles Keter, accompanied by South Sudanese ambassador to Nairobi, Chol Mawut Ajongo, said the letter contains the framework for resolving the differences between Juba and the holdout groups, noting that this signifies a renewed commitment towards promoting regional peace and stability.

The South Sudanese leaders, Keter said, have acknowledged the message and conveyed their determination to play an active role in restoring durable peace in the country.

On January 27, President Ruto received a list of government delegates from President Kiir, delivered by Presidential Special Envoy Albino Abwong in Nairobi.

During the Italy-Africa Summit in Rome, Ruto held discussions with officials of Sant’ Egidio and pledged Kenya would work closely with the former mediators.

The two parties were expected back to the negotiating table in May 2023, two months after the government withdrew its delegation, but it never happened.

In December 2023, President Kiir moved the talks to Kenya.

There are some reservations within the South Sudan Opposition Movement Alliance (SSOMA), with some members not comfortable with Kenya as the mediator.

A petition to President Ruto cited past actions in which Kenyan security operatives had collaborated with South Sudanese members of the security organs to identify, trace, and deport political dissidents to South Sudan where they either ended up in prison or extra judicially killed.

“As we converse, there are lingering and legitimate security concerns, emanating from the previous cases of kidnapping, abduction, and irregular deportation of opposition leaders, human rights, and political activists some of whom ended up getting killed in South Sudan”, partly reads a petition by three south Sudanese human rights advocates.

The petition was signed by Dak Buoth Riek-Gaak, Reverend Daniel Yor Deng, and Tut Kuany Kok. The activists cited the case of Morris Mabior Awikjok Baak who was traced and illegally abducted in Kenya and deported to South Sudan where he is currently being detained at the premises of the national security services since February 2023.

Nobody has, however, ever listened to his case, despite several attempts by members of his family and human rights advocates seeking a case to be taken to the court of law for hearing before the public.

Members of the hold-out groups have welcomed the decision of President Kiir to move talks to Kenya despite wondering what difference from the mediation conducted by the church would be. Cirino Hiteng, a member of the Real-SPLM, said that while there is no guarantee that Kenya would succeed where Sant’ Egidio failed, nobody could turn down peace talks.

His leader, Pagan Amum, was also skeptical, noting that the reason the talks were moved to Nairobi was because Ssoma had insisted that the forum address the causes of the conflict, which Juba is uncomfortable with.

(ST)