By Spy Uganda
The peace negotiations between the South Sudanese government and various holdout groups, initiated in Kenya on May 9, 2024, continue to face significant challenges due to greedy Generals who have now turned into peace distractors.
Despite efforts to find a lasting solution for the suffering citizens of South Sudan, reports indicate that some top officials feared the loss of their influential positions and their ongoing looting. These generals are allegedly discrediting and causing divisions among the groups, as evidenced when a faction rebel group renounced military solutions, advocating for sustainable peace through dialogue.
This situation escalated following a meeting between members of the South Sudan United Front/Army (SSUF/A)-Nairobi Declaration and the Director General of South Sudan National Security Service (NSS), General Akol Koor Kuc, in Juba. Gen. Koor is accused of being the unseen hand causing factions and hindering the peace initiative.
The SSUF/A-Nairobi Declaration, formed on January 28, 2023, in Nairobi, Kenya, is a breakaway faction from SSUF/A led by ex-army chief Paul Malong Awan. Malong has accused the director of the National Security Services of using violence to incite an uprising against President Salva Kiir. In a statement issued on Thursday, Malong claimed that Akol Koor Kuc is supplying rebel factions in Upper Nile and Jonglei states with weapons to incite internal conflicts and sending soldiers to Mundri and Nimule-Juba Road to create chaos, aiming to provoke civilians into protesting against Kiir’s administration.
The fallout between Koor and the former army chief of staff led to the latter’s removal amid allegations of plotting to overthrow President Kiir. Similar to Gen. Koor, the First Vice President is seen as an obstacle to the Nairobi peace initiative, as its success could diminish his influence and control over ministerial and departmental appointments.
As we report this, South Sudanese First Vice President Riek Machar has already announced that the main opposition group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), which he leads, pulled out from the Kenya-led Tumaini peace initiative.
A political analyst and political science lecturer at the University of Juba, Dr. Abraham Kuol Nyuon, has raised significant concerns over the SPLM-IO’s abrupt withdrawal from the Nairobi peace talks.
Machar, a principal of a fragile 2018 peace deal, said the new initiative is undermining the existing agreement and the country’s sovereignty. The withdrawal adds to fissures between parties loyal to Machar and President Salva Kiir that have dragged out the implementation of the 2018 agreement.
Earlier this week, the transitional government and the holdout groups in Nairobi signed eight protocols encompassing security, ceasefire, communal violence, arms proliferation, land disputes, trust-building, humanitarian access, and the role of guarantors but there is less hope that this will be effected with the greedy above-mentioned generals on the driving seat of Kiir’s gov’t.
Dr. Kuol Nyuon cautions that Dr. Machar’s withdrawal from the Nairobi talks could significantly derail the efforts towards peace in South Sudan.
The don, who has been closely monitoring the peace process, stressed that the Tumaini (hope) Initiative in Nairobi represented the last opportunity to revitalize the wavering agreement between Kiir and Machar.
“In the absence of scheduled elections by December this year, the Tumaini Initiative, once endorsed by all parties, holds the potential to breathe new life into the 2018 peace agreement,” Dr. Nyuon stated.
“However, the decision by SPLM-IO to withdraw poses a serious threat, given their pivotal role in determining the extension and the efficacy of the agreement,” he added.
