President Salva Kiir’s right to call on hold-out opposition to renounce rebellion

The Rome peace talks have remained a farce/ window dressing ceremonies because both the government and the opposition hold out groups that refused to sign the 2018 revitalized peace agreement have failed to reach a political settlement.

The peace talks that commenced in late December 2019 under the mediation of the Catholic community of Saint Egidio in Rome, Italy were expected to deliver a comprehensive political settlement due to the interest of Pope Francis in the proceedings, but this has remained a pipeline dream.

We cannot blame the Pontiff and his committed clergy for the failure of the talks but the South Sudan parties who have long held hard positions whenever it came to dialogue.

President Salva Kiir has kept on assuring opposition hold-out groups of his government’s readiness to accommodate them if they renounced rebellion.

 This has been said over the years by himself and I think the ball now is in the hands of his opponents such as his once-trusted lieutenants Paul Malong Awan, Pagan Amum and Thomas Cirilo Swaka to show that they wish well for South Sudan and return home.

Power can no longer be won through the continuous shedding of innocent blood, opposition groups should sense the moment and return to contest the election despite the difficult circumstances they could be held in.