Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The United Democratic Revolutionary Movement/ Army (UDRM/A) has decided to take part in the peace talks to be mediated by the Government of Kenya between the South Sudanese government and holdout groups that did not sign the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.
In December 2023, President Salva Kiir wrote to his Kenyan counterpart, Samuel Ruto, requesting the latter to mediate talks between the government and the Non-Signatory South Sudan Opposition Group (NSSOG).
The group is made up of the National Salvation Front (NAS) led by Gen. Thomas Cirillo, Real SPLM led by former SPLM Party Secretary-General Pagan Amum, South Sudan United Front/Army (SSUF/A) of former army chief Gen. Paul Malong, the National Democratic Movement-Patriotic Front (NDM-PF) of Amb. Emmanuel Ajawin and the South Sudan National Movement for Change/Army (SSNMC/A).
The holdout groups that have been holding peace talks with the government mediated by the Community Sant’Egidio in Rome, Italy, are however divided about the talks being moved to Kenya. Some of them said they were not consulted about moving the talks to Kenya and prefer to have pre-mediation talks in Rome.
In a new development however, Deng Nyang Vanang Thonghe, the UDRM/A chairman and Commander-in-Chief, wrote a letter dated 14 March 2024 to the Kenyan president expressing his group’s desire to participate in the talks.
The letter that Radio Tamazuj has seen and is titled “UDRM’S position on the Kenyan mediated talks” says the group’s leadership met and decided to unconditionally participate in the talks.
“The leadership politburo meeting held on 15 March 2024 focused its deliberations on the current initiative by H.E. President Dr. William Samoei Ruto to mediate peace talks between the South Sudanese government and opposition groups/Non-signatories to the R-ARCSS,” it read in part. “After constructive discussions, the leadership resolved to participate unconditionally in the proposed peace talks. The politburo made its decision based on the movement’s constitution recognizing that political conflicts, however, their bitter realities, can only be resolved through political means for achieving sustainable peace in the country.”
It added: “UDRM/A is one of the hold-out groups that declined to sign the 2018 Khartoum Peace Agreement (ARCSS) and became a co-founder of SSOMA in 2019, and NSSOG and National Consensus Forum (NCF) in mid-2022.”
Vanang also encouraged other opposition groups to consider giving the Kenyan mediation a chance for an amicable solution to the endemic political crisis in the country.
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