The Community of Sant’Egidio Reveals Details of talks with SSOMA Faction
The Community of Sant’Egidio on Wednesday evening revealed details of their three-day consultative meeting with a faction of the South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) in Rome, Italy.
The SSOMA faction of General Thomas Cirilo Swaka, Emmanuel Ajawin, and Alex Yata.
The three SSOMA faction of opposition holdout groups had refused to join in the Kenya High-level Mediation for South Sudan after its launch in Nairobi on May 9th, 2024. They refused to participate in the Tumaini Initiative peace talks in Nairobi, because of their security concerns regarding the venue and the lack of response to their request to continue talks in Rome with Community Sant’Egidio as co-mediators.
The other South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) faction of Gen. Paul Malong Awan, the South Sudan United Front (SSUF), and Gen. Pagan Amum that has joined Nairobi peace talks without demand from the High-level Mediation.
The Community of Sant’Egidio stated that the held talks with Thomas Cirilo, Emmanuel Ajawin, and Alex Yata on August 12th to 14th, 2024 in Rome, at the Community of Sant’Egidio, at the proposal of the special envoy of the Government of South Sudan, a delegation of the SSOMA Leadership Council led by General Thomas Cirillo and the delegation of the South Sudanese Government met at the presence of representatives of the Kenyan Government and the Community of Sant’Egidio.
The Community of Sant’Egidio stated that the three-days meeting has been an opportunity to present the progress of the Nairobi peace talks as “an ongoing inclusive, open process aimed to galvanize sustainable, fair and genuine peace settlement by the South Sudanese people.”
It pointed out that the consultative talks noted with satisfaction “the open, genuine discussion and the parties’ desire to continue on the path of political dialogue as the only solution to the country’s political crisis, and to foster healing among the South Sudanese people.”
“The meeting further underscored the importance of addressing the divergent positions through political compromise and consultation,” per the statement.
Per the Community of Sant’Egidio, the mediation teams remain available to receive proposals from the SSOMA leadership Council for the common good of all South Sudanese people.
