Africa-Press – South-Sudan. A key South Sudan opposition coalition has rejected elements of a Kenyan-led peace initiative and demanded the immediate release of detained First Vice President Riek Machar, warning the process could fail unless it addresses the root causes of the country’s conflict.
In a letter dated Feb. 13 to chief mediator General Lazarus Sumbeiywo, the South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) confirmed receipt of the proposed framework under the Tumaini Peace Initiative but said it had “fundamental concerns regarding both the process and substance of the Framework.”
“First, the Framework was developed and presented without prior structured consultations with South Sudanese stakeholders,” SSOMA chairman Gen. Thomas Cirillo Swaka wrote. “This approach contradicts the core principle emphasized by the Tumaini Initiative itself — that peace-making process must be owned by South Sudanese.”
The Tumaini Initiative, launched in Nairobi in 2023 under Kenyan mediation, seeks to revive stalled peace efforts and produce a National Consensus Charter aimed at stabilizing South Sudan and paving the way for elections.
However, SSOMA warned that the proposed framework appeared to impose predetermined outcomes rather than enabling genuine negotiations.
“Second, the Framework appears to predetermine the agenda, process, and outcome,” Cirillo said, adding that it “limits genuine dialogue and constrains South Sudanese parties to negotiate within externally pre-set parameters rather than shaping the process collectively and freely.”
The alliance also warned against holding elections before resolving underlying political and security issues.
“SSOMA believes that elections, conducted under the current conditions of war, displacements, humanitarian crisis, and collapsed national institutions… will not produce peace,” the letter said.
SSOMA called for a comprehensive political settlement that includes reforms to governance, security, and accountability structures.
Most significantly, the alliance demanded the release of political detainees, including Machar, a central figure in South Sudan’s power-sharing government.
“All political detainees under the outgoing South Sudan regime’s security apparatus should unconditionally be released,” Cirillo wrote. “The top political detainee is South Sudan’s First Vice President… Dr. Riek Machar Teny.”
Machar was detained in March last year in relation to violence in Upper Nile state’s Nasir County. In September, he was put on trial the opposition has dismissed as “sham” by a “kangaroo court.”
The demand by SSOMA underscores growing tensions surrounding Machar’s detention, which has complicated regional mediation efforts and raised concerns about the viability of new peace talks.
The Tumaini Initiative framework was recently circulated to government and opposition actors as mediators attempt to restart dialogue amid escalating clashes between government forces and opposition groups.
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