JUBA – A group of South Sudanese civil society and faith-based mediators is holding consultative meetings with political parties in a bid to address obstacles threatening the collapse of the 2018 peace agreement.
The talks are being facilitated by South Sudan Women Mediators (SSWM) in collaboration by South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) and the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO).
Mediators met SPLM representatives on Monday, and held similar discussions with SPLM/A-IO on Tuesday. They were expected to meet South Sudan Opposition Alliance on Wednesday, but that engagement was postponed due to internal division within the alliance.
The Other Political Parties (OPP) met the mediators on Thursday, and this will be followed by the Former Detainees (FDs).
SPLM representative Bol Makueng said on Monday that they discussed with mediators the timeline of the upcoming general elections in 2026, which should follow a fully pledged security arrangement.
Makueng said the SPLM called for external financial support for the conduct of elections.
Meanwhile, the SPLM/A-IO under suspended First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar on Tuesday appealed for the release of its detained members including Machar, and resumption of dialogue to determine the country’s political future.
Addressing reporters, SPLM-IO member Yolanda Awel Deng said the meeting was productive and touched on many areas that will form part of a possible inter-party dialogue.
“The first thing is that SPLM-IO are in this process 100 percent. We are for a South-to-South Sudanese solution to make sure that our country is back in peace, to make sure that our population is reconciled. And to reach that process, we have prerequisites along the way,” Awel said.
“Some of those are the unconditional release of the First Vice President and SPLM-IO members in detention, and then eventually, that one will now lead to the high-level dialogue that will be led by the President and all the peace parties. Then we will go into the nitty-gritty of making sure that we transition our country from the transitional period to elections.”
The SPLM-IO has been facing political crises since the March 2025 arrest of its leader, Dr. Riek Machar, and subsequent charges against him.
This has led to renewed clashes between government and opposition forces, a breakdown of power-sharing, and SPLM-IO’s declaration that the peace deal is “abrogated”.
The crisis is exacerbated by a worsening humanitarian situation and a lack of trust between the parties. Machar and seven other comrades are currently on trial for serious charges over alleged involvement in the Nasir incident.
On its part, the Other Political Parties (OPP) alliance has suggested renewed political dialogue among parties to the 2018 peace agreement, to restore a smooth transition to democracy.
OPP representative Hon. Wilson Lodiong Sebit said lack of political will, poor working relationship among the parties, and lack of funding as the major obstacles to full implementation of the agreement.
Lodiong stressed that the peace parties must return to dialogue to save the deal from collapse.
“The crucial issue is that we are trying to analyze the peace agreement itself to see what the obstacles are. What we identified was lack of political will, lack of funding, cohesiveness of the political parties that signed the agreement is not there.”
“The solution is that we need to dialogue and build trust among ourselves because if we don’t build trust among ourselves, we shall not be able to implement the agreement in spirit and energy.”
“The R-ARCSS should not collapse. All of us need to diagnose the causes of what is the problem and once we get those causes of that problem, we shall answer it, and we shall make forward the international will to come and find out that South Sudanese are already back to peace without any problem from anyone.”
The political consultative meetings are facilitated by the South Sudan Women Mediators, in collaboration with the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization and the South Sudan Council of Churches.
Mediators have now obtained the perspectives of SPLM, SPLM-IO, OPP but are yet to meet with South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) and the Former Detainees (FDs). Following the consultation, an inter-party dialogue is expected early in December to chart the way forward.
The consultations are expected to culminate into an inter-party dialogue early next month.