Rome-Based Lay Catholic Association Meets South Sudanese “dissidents”

One of the opposition leaders reported to have traveled early this week for the Rome meeting is the leader of the opposition group, South Sudan United Front (SSUF), Gen. Paul Malong.

“The Catholic community invited the holdout opposition groups for the purpose of engagement in dialogue,” SSUF spokesperson, Sunday de John was quoted as saying, reiterating his leader’s to the realization of lasting peace in South Sudan.

The ongoing meeting seems a follow up of last year’s conventions.

In November 2019, Sant’Egidio Catholic community convened a three-day meeting in Rome with leaders of South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA), a coalition of opposition groups in the East African country.

During the November meeting, SSOMA appealed to the influential Sant’Egidio community to engage regional and international partners in facilitating the resolution of South Sudan conflict through dialogue, Radio Tamazuj reported.

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In a statement following their November 2019 meeting in Italy’s capital, Rome, SSOMA representatives also commended efforts by the 52-year-old Sant’Egidio Catholic community toward the achievement of sustainable peace as well as “the continuous and outstanding empathy and affection shown to the suffering people of South Sudan” by Pope Francis and Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury.

In July 2019, Sant’Egidio Catholic community met members of South Sudan’s National Pre-Transitional Committee to discuss the implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).

SSOMA is a coalition of nine opposition political parties formed in February 2018. While generally supporting the implementation of R-ARCSS, the coalition brings together political parties that did not sign the 2018 peace agreement.

Toward the formation of a unity government, Catholic Bishops in South Sudan have advocated for an inclusive approach.

In their October 2019 statement, the South Sudanese Catholic Prelates did express their conditional support for the realization of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) saying, “We support the formation of the R-TGoNU only when essential preconditions have been met, and only when it is truly inclusive, including non-signatories to the R-ARCSS.”

Alexey Gotovskiy and Magdalene Kahiu contributed to this news report

Fr. Don Bosco Onyalla is ACI Africa’s founding Editor-in-Chief. He was formed in the Congregation of the Holy Ghost Fathers (Spiritans), and later incardinated in Rumbek Diocese, South Sudan. He has a PhD in Media Studies from Daystar University in Kenya, and a Master’s degree in Organizational Communication from Marist College, New York, USA.