The Vatican is playing the role of an honest broker between the most intransigent rivals of the South Sudanese conflict.
President Salva Kiir who left Juba for the holy city on Tuesday is poised to meet with former rebel chief Riek Machar for further talks to recover their personal chemistry together and give much needed impetus to the precarious peace process.
The talks are taking place in the form of a spiritual retreat of prayer for South Sudan which is being organized by Pope Francis in his attempt to build confidence between President Kiir and Machar.
The two have been at dagger’s drawn since December 2013 when Kirr sacked Machar who was his vice president, triggering a bloody civil strife that killed tens of thousands and displaced over one million more.
Personal relations between the two men who appear to hold the important aces in South Sudanese politics, have deteriorated, jeopardising several rapprochements for peace and an ultimate end to the conflict.
Since the civil war began following reports of a foiled coup for which Machar was accused of being the mastermind, several peace deals were signed but foundered after the guns refused to fall silent given the intransigence of the two leaders, determined not to yield to the other’s position.
Although shaky, the latest peace deal brokered by the regional Inrtergovernmemtal Authority on Development (IGAD) last year appears to be holding, with the fighting appearing to have died down.
However some mistrust still remain between Kiir and his archrival for power in South Sudan, culminating into sporadic incidents between government troops and Machar’s forces.
Pope Francis’s bid to deepen reconciliation between these two main protagonists to the South Sudanese crisis comes weeks after his visit to the country was confirmed for September this year.
The Presidency in Juba said in a statement that other South Sudanese political principals at the Vatican for the retreat are Gabriel Changson Chang who heads the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) and Pagan Amum, the leader of SPLM-FDs.
IAN/as/APA