South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"

By Benjamin Takpiny
The chief negotiator for opposition parties at the Tumaini peace talks in Nairobi, Pagan Amum Okiech has asked the parties to forget their past differences and prioritize ending the suffering of the South Sudanese people.
He said Tumaini is not a new discovery but an additional effort to the ongoing efforts by the government in Juba to bring peace.
Amum said these remarks over the weekend during meeting with the government delegation at the home of the former Chief -of -Staff of the South Sudan People’s Defense Force (SSPDF) Gen. Paul Malong as part of trust and confidence building with the holdout opposition as stipulated in the initialed Tumaini consensus protocols.
Malong a former confidant of President Salva Kiir leads the opposition South Sudan United Front (SSUF) which is part of the Tumaini peace process.
The minister of information and government rapporteur to the peace talks, Michael Makuei Lueth said that the lack of trust and confidence are the elements that bring dispute and conflict between the people.
He said the beginning of trust and confidence building with the opposition will continue practically even when they return to Juba.
Makuei said the Tumaini peace initiative shall return home and pave way for real service delivery.
The event on Saturday was attended by the government delegation, members of the opposition hold-out groups led by Pagan Amum, civil society and stakeholder delegations.
The Kenyan mediators and Reconstituted Joint Monitoring Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC) representatives were also in attendance.