Kenyan chief mediator urged to heed Machar’s concerns

A civil society activist said the concerns raised by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar on Tumaini Initiative were genuine and called on the chief mediator reconsider his views.

On Wednesday, Dr. Riek Machar wrote to Lazarus Sumbeiyo stating that he was concerned about a draft constitutional document he believes is designed to replace the 2018 peace deal.

According to Dr. Machar, the document didn’t recognize the revitalized agreement and the resolution of conflict in the Republic of South Sudan.

He observed that some sections of the document proposed alternative institutions replacing or running in parallel with those in the 2018 agreement.

Dr Machar went on to argue that the Tumaini Initiative has no power to amend the R-ARCSS, but the party’s signatory to the 2018 accord, which he said, is the only agreement that has empowered the Tumaini Initiative to be one of the institutions rather than being a mediation forum.

Commenting on the development, Debak Mabior Arok, who is the acting chairperson for the South Sudan Civil Society Alliance says, Dr Machar’s argument was in place, and urges the chief mediator to reconsider his observations.

Mr. Mabior added that the Civil Society Alliance has observed that the Tumaini Initiative has excluded other stakeholders and is not inclusive as it was intended.

“I think this initiative was being intended to include the opposition groups so the observation made by his excellence is in place,” Mabior said.

“As a civil society, we urge that Tumaini initiative to reconsider that observation and work on it. Also, we have an observation this initiative is not inclusive, they should include all stalkholders.”

Dabek agreed with Dr. Machar’s view that the Tumaini Initiative should not be a stand-alone agreement, but rather complement the revitalized peace agreement

He also said the Nairobi peace process should recognize the progress made in the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement since its signing.

“We have seen that the Tumaini Initiative for South Sudan should be compliment of the revitalized peace agreement, they should not stand-alone agreement, they should complement the gaps that not being implemented in the revitalized peace agreement.”

“We have also observed the Tumaini initiative should consider that there is a progress being made in the implementation of the 2018 peace revitalized agreement. They should consider and then complement the peace agreement.”

The Tumaini Initiative, which started in May 2024, is a south Sudanese peace talk between the government and the opposition parties that were not signatories to the 2018 peace agreement.