South Sudanese President Kiir in South Africa for peace talks

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir is in South Africa for a working visit, during which he will engage in bilateral talks with President Cyril Ramaphosa.

According to a statement from the South Sudan Government, Kiir left Juba on Wednesday for Pretoria to meet with Ramaphosa.

South Africa chairs the African Union High-level Ad-hoc Committee of Heads of State and Government, known as the C5, established in 2018.

The committee was created to enhance and scale up the mediation efforts of the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in South Sudan.

"Their discussions will focus on advancing peace and stability in South Sudan as well as strengthening ties between the two nations," the statement said.

The visit follows the recent Nairobi Tumaini Peace Initiative, which Kiir is keen to update Ramaphosa on, especially since the initiative has reset after First Vice President Riek Machar, who leads the main opposition party, pulled out of the talks.

The Tumaini ('hope' in Swahili) Peace Initiative for South Sudan was launched in Nairobi months ago and seeks a final peace settlement by including armed groups that have not signed the 2018 Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan.

Withdrawal

Recently, South Sudanese First Vice President Riek Machar announced that the main opposition group, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), which he leads, has withdrawn from the Kenya-led Tumaini peace initiative.

Machar accused the initiative of overstepping its mandate and undermining the East African Community's existing revitalised peace agreement and sovereignty, sending Kenyan mediators back to the drawing board.

This development came days after the parties to the Kenya-led initiative signed eight protocols encompassing security, ceasefire, communal violence, arms proliferation, land disputes, trust-building, humanitarian access, and the role of guarantors.

The protocols signed in Nairobi establish institutions that already exist under the revitalised peace agreement signed by President Salva Kiir's government and the main armed opposition group in September 2018.

Negotiators stated that these protocols, which emerged from months of negotiations, aim to address critical issues in South Sudan.