South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The ongoing peace talks in Nairobi dubbed “Tumaini” pose significant threat to the implementation of the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ACRSS).
Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro, the Minister of Cabinet Affairs on Thursday during the plenary meeting of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) in Juba, said that some of the protocols signed at the Nairobi peace talks run parallel to the 2018 peace agreement and extended roadmap.
“I want to have another thing called the security sector oversight commission. You are basically dismantling the achievement of the R-ARCSS, which achievements have maintained this country in peace for the last nearly six years,” Lomuro said.
He suggested that the Tumaini peace initiative should align itself with the R-ARCSS.
“So we are saying, while the remaining consensus is welcome, it should align itself with the R-ARCSS. It should be an attachment to the R-ARCSS and not a replacement or a parallel agreement to the R-ARCSS,” he said.
He said some of the protocols endanger the established structures and systems which are in existence.
“I want to be clear in this, because when we say this, people say, these are people who are against peace. No. We want this peace to continue undisturbed because the responsibility of this is only to take the country to elections,” Lomuro said.
In July 2024, the government and the holdout groups agreed on eight protocols, designed to accelerate efforts towards bringing lasting peace and stability in the country.
The 25-page document provides details of an inclusive governance structure and responsibility sharing among the government, opposition groups and other stakeholders.
They include protocols on humanitarian access, trust and confidence building measures, permanent ceasefire, and security arrangement reforms, protocol on communal conflicts, armed civilians and land disputes.
