The South Sudan mediation talks being led by President William Ruto have hit yet another obstacle.
Deng Vanang, the leader of the United Democratic Resistance Movement (UDRM) and part of the opposition announced that the party had renounced its membership in the South Sudan United National Alliance (SSUNA) which is a party in the Nairobi talks.
According to Vanang who spoke to Sudans Post on Monday night, the SSUNA led by their chairperson Stephen Buay Rolnyang has decided to look after its own interests in the talks.
He claimed that SSUNA was under the influence of General Pagan Amum Okiech who has been contributing to the derailment of the mediation talks.
"Okiech, according to his narrow view, seems to believe the peace agreement is about dividing up the spoils of war, prioritising which Nuers get the biggest slice of the pie rather than addressing the root causes of the conflict for the benefit of all South Sudanese," he remarked.
The official further emphasised that the General was only looking to prioritise his interests rather than focusing on bringing peace to South Sudan.
Vanang also revealed the exit was meant to protect the team from embarrassment if the wrangles between the parties did not go as planned.
"Seeing matters progressively moving from bad to worse, we humbly and peacefully decided to call it quits otherwise it could be a national embarrassment to the Kenyan mediators and foreign observers seeing us South Sudanese quarrelling in front of them," Vanang added.
The ongoing talks were initiated by President Salva Kiir who asked President Ruto to lead the talks. They are being held in Nairobi which sees South Sudanese politicians fly into the country intermittently.
The talks have also faced another challenge in the form of General Buay threatening to leave the negotiating table after he allegedly received death threats.
Buay alleged that shadowy persons came to his house during which his life was threatened. However, police officers in the country denied the claims adding that investigations had been launched into the allegations.
Additionally, Lieutenant General Thomas Cirillo Swaka in mid-May called for the venue of the talks to be changed from Nairobi to Rome.
"Our reservation is not about doubting the Kenyan mediation itself, but rather the process surrounding it. The main issue is that the agenda for the talks was decided without consulting us," the General stated.
