Machar withdraws from Kenya-led initiative citing ‘breach’ to existing peace deal

JUBA – South Sudan’s main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by First Vice President Riek Machar has withdrawn from the Kenya-led Tumaini peace initiative, accusing it of overstepping its mandate and undermining the country’s existing revitalized peace agreement and sovereignty.

Earlier this week, the parties to the Kenya-led initiative initialed eight protocol encompassing security, ceasefire, communal violence, arms proliferation, land disputes, trust-building, humanitarian access, and the role of guarantors.

The protocols establish institutions that are already existing under the revitalized peace agreement signed by President Salva Kiir’s government and the main armed opposition group in September 2018.

The negotiators say that these protocols, which emerged from months of negotiations, aim to address critical issues in South Sudan.

But in a statement on Tuesday, First Vice President Machar said following a meeting of the group’s political bureau said the protocols initialed by the Tumaini Initiative parties were incompatible with the revitalized peace deal.

The group claimed the protocols introduced parallel institutions, duplicated R-ARCSS provisions, and encroached on national laws.

“The initialed Protocols establish alternative institutions, replacing or running in parallel with those in R-ARCSS besides repeating most provisions in R-ARCSS or existing national laws. The Protocols clearly breach the R-ARCSS and undermine the ongoing peace implementation processes,” the statement said.

The SPLM-IO further accused the initiative of overreach, saying it had assumed excessive roles, including funding, supervising, coordinating, and monitoring peace implementation. These functions, the group argued, should be the purview of the South Sudanese government.

The rebel group specifically criticized the proposed Security Sector Reforms/Oversight Commission and National Leadership Council under the Tumaini initiative, arguing they would usurp the powers of existing mechanisms and institutions outlined in the 2018 peace deal.

“The Initiative has arrogated to itself many roles including being a funder, a supervisor, a coordinator, a convener of a donor conference, a fund manager, a monitor of the implementation, a guarantor and a governing authority. Therefore, the ‘Tumaini Initiative’ undermines the sovereignty of the Republic of South Sudan,” he said.

These included the Security Supervision Mechanism, the Ceasefire Transitional Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism, the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission, the Strategic Defense and Security Review Board, and the National Transitional Committee.

Regarding the National Leadership Council, the SPLM-IO said it would wield excessive power, overriding decisions of the presidency, cabinet, legislature, and national security council.

Despite rejecting the Tumaini initiative, the SPLM-IO reiterated its commitment to the R-ARCSS as the “only viable framework for attaining sustainable peace and stability in South Sudan.”

“In light of the above development, the SPLM/SPLA (IO) rejects the initialed Protocols and declares its withdrawal from the Tumaini Initiative as it has deviated from the intended purpose of being an Annex to R-ARCSS and not a stand-alone Agreement,” it concluded.