South Sudan Opposition Try to Forge a United Front

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir addresses delegates during the swearing-in ceremony of First Vice President Taban Deng Gai at the Presidential Palace in the capital of Juba, South Sudan, July 26, 2016. REUTERS/Jok Solomun
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir addresses delegates during the swearing-in ceremony of First Vice President Taban Deng Gai at the Presidential Palace in the capital of Juba, South Sudan, July 26, 2016. REUTERS/Jok Solomun
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South Sudan Opposition Try to Forge a United Front

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir addresses delegates during the swearing-in ceremony of First Vice President Taban Deng Gai at the Presidential Palace in the capital of Juba, South Sudan, July 26, 2016. REUTERS/Jok Solomun
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir addresses delegates during the swearing-in ceremony of First Vice President Taban Deng Gai at the Presidential Palace in the capital of Juba, South Sudan, July 26, 2016. REUTERS/Jok Solomun

South Sudanese opposition groups tried to forge a united front on Monday ahead of an expected resumption of peace talks, in the first such meeting since the start of their country’s civil war nearly four years ago, attendees told Reuters.

South Sudan’s civil war, triggered by a feud between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy, has plunged parts of the world’s youngest nation into famine and forced a third of the population - some four million people - to flee their homes.

Representatives of South Sudan’s many armed and unarmed opposition groups met in the Kenyan town of Nyahururu, said Kosti Manibe, a former government minister who was briefly jailed and represents a group of ex-political prisoners.

“I call it like-minded groups who are opposed to the policy that the regime of Salva in (South Sudan’s capital) Juba is pursuing,” Manibe said.

The gathering, expected to last three days, comes after diplomats from the regional bloc IGAD held talks with Kiir in Juba at the weekend to press the government to participate in the planned peace talks in December.

“The opposition is speaking in a cacophony of voices. There is a need to harmonise these voices,” said Majak D‘Agoot, another member of the former prisoner group.

Manibe said Kenya’s government had “graciously allowed” the opposition groups to meet in their country, without elaborating.

Kenyan foreign affairs ministry spokesman Edwin Limo said he was not aware of the meeting.

The United Nations says South Sudan’s civil war has resulted in ethnic cleansing and other war crimes.

A Western-backed peace deal between Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar collapsed last year, spawning the creation of new armed and political groups opposing the government.

Machar’s SPLA-IO rebel group, the country’s largest which still controls swathes of territory in the south and northeast of South Sudan, declined to attend the Nyahururu meeting, according to Nathaniel Oyet, a senior member of the group, saying it may distract from the December talks.

Oyet also cited security concerns in Kenya where SPLA-IO officials have disappeared in the last year, including Machar’s spokesman who was arrested and deported to Juba in 2016.

Among those attending Monday’s meeting in Kenya were representatives of former army general Thomas Cirillo, who is waging an insurgency in the southern region of South Sudan, and other former government officials Lam Akol, Gabriel Changson, and Joseph Bakosoro, all of whom live in exile.

South Sudanese government officials were unavailable for comment on the Kenya meeting.



Qatar and Egypt See Some Progress in Gaza Ceasefire Talks

 Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 25, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 25, 2025. (Reuters)
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Qatar and Egypt See Some Progress in Gaza Ceasefire Talks

 Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 25, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 25, 2025. (Reuters)

There has been some progress in the latest round of Gaza ceasefire talks, mediators Qatar and Egypt said in a joint statement on Friday.

Suspending the negotiations to hold consultations before resuming talks is normal in the context of these complex negotiations, they said.

The ceasefire mediators affirmed their commitment to continuing their efforts to reach a comprehensive ceasefire agreement in Gaza in partnership with the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump appeared on Friday to abandon Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, both saying it had become clear that the Palestinian group did not want a deal.

Netanyahu said Israel was now mulling "alternative" options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending Hamas rule in the enclave, where starvation is spreading and most of the population is homeless amid widespread ruin.

Trump said he believed Hamas leaders would now be "hunted down", telling reporters at the White House: "Hamas really didn't want to make a deal. I think they want to die. And it's very bad. And it got to be to a point where you're going to have to finish the job."

Israel and the United States withdrew their delegations on Thursday from the ceasefire talks in Qatar, hours after Hamas submitted its response to a truce proposal.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said on Facebook that the talks had been constructive.