By Matik Kueth
The leadership of the Umbrella for the Other Political Parties (OPP) has proposed a new “Juba Initiative” to bring parties to the 2018 peace deal back to the table for urgent negotiation, aiming to preserve South Sudan’s fragile peace.
While addressing a press conference in Juba on Friday, Peter Mayen Majongdit, head of the OPP and leader of the People’s Liberal Party, emphasized that without dialogue, the revitalized agreement risks total collapse.
“The relationship among the parties, it is not in a friendly note and therefore it contradicts this period of the agreement that called for the parties to cooperate and work together to implement this agreement. It is not only between the IG and the SPLM IO, but among all parties in general. Let us get into the issues, to elaborate it in a very friendly manner. There is no other way that these agreements can move forward apart from accepting and initiating dialogue among the parties,” Majongdit said.
The “Juba Initiative of the Parties” calls for inclusive discussions involving all signatories to the R-ARCSS, with the backing of IGAD, the African Union, and the international community.
Majongdit warned that South Sudan is teetering on the brink of a constitutional crisis, especially if the transitional period concludes without conducting elections.
“If the transition ends with no elections, the country loses legitimacy. We are the ones now who will come to answer and say, what happened before South Sudanese?” he cautioned.
The initiative, he said, offers an opportunity not only to evaluate what has been achieved but also to prioritize outstanding commitments.
“The goodness with this dialogue, it will be giving us the opportunity to clearly see what we really need to do, what can we implement today, and what do we need to implement tomorrow,” he stated.
The OPP leader also urged all political stakeholders to embrace the initiative and address their differences constructively. He warned that continued delays, political infighting, and internal sabotage could derail the entire peace process.
Though the international community and regional bodies have repeatedly called for renewed dialogue among South Sudan’s political factions, there has been little concrete progress.
The political climate has worsened in recent months, with several senior SPLM-IO officials fleeing the country, while First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar remains under house arrest. These developments have further endangered the peace agreement.
The SPLM-IO has now fractured into two rival factions, one led by self-proclaimed interim chairman Stephen Phar Kuol, currently serving as Minister of Peacebuilding, who was granted full authority by the R-ARCSS Ad Hoc Committee to head up the party, a move rejected by Machar loyalists.
The SPLA-IO recently reaffirmed its allegiance to Dr. Machar and warned of retaliatory action should the peace deal be violated, raising fears of renewed conflict and a total collapse of the peace process.
If the ruling SPLM-IG party endorses the OPP’s proposal, meaningful dialogue could resume, potentially restoring momentum to South Sudan’s fragile roadmap toward lasting peace and democratic transition.