General Cirilo laments Kiir’s threat to pull out of talks as indication of full-blown war

JUBA — South Sudan holdout opposition alliance, SSOMA, has condemned Monday’s threats by President Salva Kiir Mayardit that the government may reconsider its participation in peace talks with rebel groups in Rome following a highway ambush in which five civilians including two (2) Catholic nuns were killed.

On Monday, a convoy of vehicles on their way to Juba from Loa Parish of the Catholic Diocese of Torit was ambushed resulting in the killing of at least five people including the two Catholic nuns.

Kiir then issued a statement and accused holdout opposition National Salvation Front (NAS) of standing behind the killing and then threatened to pull out of the ongoing talks with the rebel movement in Rome.

In a statement to respond to the threat, the SSOMA said it is disturbed by Kiir’s statement calling it a irresponsible statement which it say May return the world’s youngest country to the devastating civil war.

“The South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA) has come across a disturbing statement by the President of the Republic of South Sudan. On the 17th of August. 2021, the President of the Republic of South Sudan, Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, issued a statement on the killing of the innocent civilians along the Juba-Nimule road, in which he fallaciously laid the responsibility of the attacks on the ‘Holdout Group’, regime’s usual derogatory reference to the SSOMA. In the same statement, the President threatened to reconsider his regime’s position on the ongoing Sant’Egidio Peace Process,” the group said.

“SSOMA denounces and condemns in the strongest terms possible President Salva Kiir’s statement. The statement is irresponsible, false, misguided, revealing yet again the lack of sympathy for the lives lost, and the usual wish to keep the country in a state of perpetual war and insecurity as the President prepares to launch a military offensive on SSOMA’s members’ position,” the statement added.

It then accused the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit of standing behind the highway killings which have become rampant in recent months.

“SSOMA holds the regime of Salva Kiir responsible for the highway robberies and killings in South Sudan. The road ambushes in South Sudan have increased dramatically, especially on Juba-Nimule road,” the SSOMA statement said.

“The government on several occasions has been displaying criminals suspected to have been behind these road ambushes and kidnappings on national TV. Most of these criminals, unfortunately, are members of SSPDF and the Tiger Division, the President’s personal bodyguards,” the statement alleged.

The opposition grouping said it was not surprised by the anti-dialogue and pro-violence rhetoric of President Kiir and that it will not deter them from the course of pursuing just and lasting peace in South Sudan.

“SSOMA assures the citizens of South Sudan of its commitment to work hard with all like-minded groups in the country to bring the suffering of the people to an end,” the statement read.

“SSOMA is aware of and closely monitoring the regime’s troop build-up in Yei, Morobo, Kojo-Keji, and Lobonok in preparations for all-out attacks against the forces of the National Salvation Front (NAS),” it added.

The statement further said the remarks by Kiir are aimed at revoking the Rome Declaration are a desperate tactic and a smokescreen for seeking justification to wage a military offensive against their positions.

“The Church and the Christian community have been persecuted and targeted by elements of the Kiir regime for the last few years. At least forty (40) church leaders have been killed by the regime of Salva Kiir across South Sudan between December 2013 and March 2017,” SSOMA charged.

“These attacks and killing incidences include: the killing of a Slovak Catholic nun and physician, Veronica Teresa Rackova, in Yei County in 2016 by an SSPDF, Rev. Simon Kwaje in 2017 in Yei County; Johnson Makueth Akken and his wife of House of God for All Nations shot dead in Gudele Block 4 on 3rd May 2021,” the statement added.