Aguer warns Tumaini may repeat 2018 peace failures with out robust management

Hon. Kuel Aguer, former governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal, speaks throughout an interview with Eye Radio in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. Credit: Lou Nelson/Eye Radio

A delegate to the Kenya-led South Sudan peace talks warned that the Tumaini course of will find yourself just like the 2018 peace settlement until there may be actual political will, robust management, and true dedication from the nation’s leaders.

Kuel Aguer, former governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, shared his views throughout an interview with Eye Radio in Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday, December 10.

He believes the Tumaini initiative has the potential to convey lasting peace to South Sudan, however provided that there may be real political will—one thing he argues is missing within the revitalized peace settlement.

As a member of the People’s Coalition for Civil Action, Aguer described the Tumaini Initiative as “special” in comparison with different agreements, emphasizing that it was personally initiated by President Salva Kiir.

He urged the President to proceed his help for the method.

Aguer additionally famous that the implementation of the 2018 revitalized peace settlement has been gradual, however he sees Tumaini as one other alternative to realize lasting peace within the nation.

“The Tumaini initiative is special because it was initiated by the President, while all other agreements and processes were started by the region or the international community,” Aguer informed Eye Radio.

“This one was initiated by the President himself, which brings three important aspects into play. First is leadership. If the President continues to commit himself to this process it will have strong leadership. The President must continue to lead this process for it to succeed,” he stated.

“The second aspect is political will. If the President is leading this process, it will bring the political will of the leader on board. The third is commitment. If the President remains committed to this process, there will be political commitment across the country,” he added.

“The only remaining challenge is resources, which the current process is working to mobilize. But if the first three aspects—leadership, political will, and commitment—are unstable, we should not expect this process to be any different from the R-ARCSS,” he defined.

Kuel Aguer went on to elucidate the distinction between the Tumaini peace initiative and the 2018 revitalized peace settlement.

“The idea of Tumaini was that the Tumaini should be an agreement that is implementable and that brings sustainable peace in the country that is the Tumaini,” Aguer said.

“The R-ARCSS is a revitalized agreement for the resolution of conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, so one was resolving the conflict, and the other one was to bring sustainable peace into the country,” he stated.

“The conflict resolution framework has not been moving very well for the last nine years if we consider 2015 which was revitalized is a continuation, until now it is going to be ten years by next year, and it has not brought what was expected,” he defined.

“Yes, there is a ceasefire which has been broken here and there and this is the only advantage that the R-ARCSS has brought to the people of South Sudan,” he stated.

The Tumaini peace initiative resumed on Wednesday final week.

Currently, the chief mediator is consulting with the federal government delegation, opposition and stakeholders on the agendas to be mentioned within the talks.

These embody; the connection between the Tumaini and R-ARCSSS, Repetition, Mechanisms, Structures and contradictions with the R-ARCSS, Responsibility Sharing and time-frame for concluding the Tumaini Peace Initiative.