Presidents of South Sudan and Kenya push for a resolution in stalled peace talks

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan peace talks, previously held in neighboring Kenya, will resume under a directive from President Salva Kiir and his Kenyan counterpart, William Ruto, who met Wednesday and directed the mediation team to reconvene and resolve all outstanding issues within two weeks.

The talks had stalled after Kiir’s former rival, Riek Machar’s party withdrew in July, citing plans by the mediators to replace the 2018 peace agreement that ended a five-year civil war in which more than 400,000 people died.

While the 2018 peace agreement is yet to be fully implemented, South Sudan postponed elections, scheduled for December 2023 to 2025, to establish key electoral processes outlined in the agreement.

The Tumaini initiative peace talks, ongoing in Kenya since May, aimed to provide a foundation for the inclusion of non-signatory groups to sustain peace in the east African country plagued by civil war and ethnic violence. However, participants expressed concerns over a new security law that would allow the government to detain people without warrants.

The law was criticized by western envoys and human rights groups who fear it could be misused in the country’s fragile political and judicial climate.

South Sudan is going through an economic crisis that has seen civil servants go unpaid for almost one year, after oil exports were disrupted by a damaged pipeline in war-torn neighboring Sudan.