Joseph Wol Modesto Ukelo, the Secretary General of the Communist Party of South Sudan - Courtesy

South Sudan’s Communist Party insisted that the Tumaini initiative must include political parties and stakeholders in the R-ARCSS, citing critical topics from Stakeholders’ Submissions on constitutional processes as underlying conflict causes.

This is according to the press statement issued on Monday, July 1, 2024, by the central secretariat, the communist party of South Sudan.

The Secretary General of the Communist Party of South Sudan, Joseph Wol Modesto says it is expected that the talks will be expanded.

He pointed out that the Nairobi talks should include all parties signatories to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict of South Sudan.

However, the statement mentioned that these talks in Nairobi will touch on whether to have elections or go for another extension.

The party expected the talks to continue Santꞌ Egidio Talks to start from where Rome Talks stopped.

The organizers must achieve the full participation of those known to be holdout groups, since all the holdout groups are not represented, then surely, even if an agreement is reached, there would still be the need for talks with those holdout groups that did not participate in the Tumaini Talks.

The Secretary General of the Communist Party of South Sudan, Joseph Wol Modesto Ukelo spoke to Eye Radio through a WhatsApp call this morning in Juba.

“The document issued from High-level Mediation for South Sudan titled “Stakeholders Submission on Constitutional Making Process High-level Mediation which is given the name of Tumaini Initiative is supposed to be a continuation of talks between the government and the holdout groups in Rome,” Joseph said.

“As some holdout groups are not represented at the Tumaini Initiative it is not inclusive,” he said.

“We expected that the talks would be expanded to include at least the signatory to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict of South Sudan R-ARCSS.”

Modesto revealed that if the Tumaini Talks do not involve political parties and other stallholders to the RARCSS, then this will be a new peace agreement with no connection to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict of South Sudan.

“Let us assume that Tumaini Talks between the government and holdout groups result in a peace agreement. In that case, the Tumaini Initiative agreement will be between the government and some holdout groups. Since it is between the government and some holdout groups, it will be on the same equation used to reach agreements between the government and other political groups,” said Joseph.

“The High-level Mediation’s paper pointed out that so many extensions ended without achieving the tasks stipulated in the agreement and many agreements were signed but not implemented. So, what agrees the Tumaini Initiative to be an exception? There is something wrong with the equation,” he said.

“It is high time not to repeat that equation, but to find a way forward that will put an end to direct negotiations between the government and opposition groups.”

The communist party says that outstanding issues mean the suspension of the remaining critical tasks of the R-ARCSS then which is surely outrageous.