Salva Kiir wants William Ruto to mediate in Rome’s stead

South Sudan has approached Kenya to help drive negotiations between the government and armed groups that were initially left out of the 2018 peace deal.

The East African has gathered that President Salva Kiir late last year wrote to his Kenyan counterpart William Ruto to take over the mediation from Sant’Egidio Community in Rome after the talks collapsed in March 2023.

The talks had sought to embrace hold-out groups into the larger 2018 peace agreement mediated by the regional bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad).

The two parties were expected back to the negotiating table in May 2023, two months after the government withdrew its delegation, but it never happened. In December, President Kiir shifted the talks to Kenya.

South Sudan and Kenyan government officials have been cagey about the issue, which they say is a privileged consultation between Presidents Kiir and Ruto.