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Ex-Kenya Army boss Sumbeiywo appointed mediator for South Sudan peace process

Former Kenya Army Commander Lazarus Sumbeiywo.

By Mwangi Maina | 28 Mar 2024

He will also facilitate negotiations and interaction among the parties to achieve "peace and political stability in South Sudan."

President William Ruto has appointed former Kenya Army Commander Lazarus Sumbeiywo as the Chief Mediator for the South Sudan mediation peace process.

Sumbeiywo, a retired Lieutenant General, will be deputised by Mohammed Abdi Guyo, a Kenyan who has been serving as IGAD Special Envoy to the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and Somalia.

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Commenting on the appointment of the two Kenyans, President Ruto said elections in South Sudan are scheduled for December this year, and his South Sudanese counterpart had requested that he facilitate talks in Nairobi with opposition groups and other sections of society in the East African Community.

These include "holdout opposition groups organised under the rubric of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance, religious groups, and civil society."

In a statement dispatched by State House Nairobi, the Kenyan leader said he had picked Sumbeiywo as Chief Mediator due to his experience in the South Sudan peace process nearly 20 years ago.

"Based on your wealth of experience and invaluable contribution in negotiating and the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, I appoint you as the Chief Mediator from April 1, 2024, and June 30, 2024," he said.

Sumbeiywo is expected to provide "the day-to-day leadership of the South Sudan Mediation Peace Process on my behalf."

He will also facilitate negotiations and interaction among the parties to achieve "peace and political stability in South Sudan."

Sumbeiywo was appointed Kenya's special envoy to Sudan in 1997 by former President Daniel Moi, and in 2005 he led the warring parties into signing the comprehensive peace agreement in Naivasha signed by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan's People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

The Naivasha agreement effectively ended over two decades of conflict and marked a major breakthrough that ended with the birth of South Sudan in 2011.