SOUTH SUDAN peace talks, previously held in neighbouring Kenya, will resume under a directive from President Salva Kiir and his Kenyan counterpart, William Ruto.

The two leaders met on Wednesday and directed the mediation team to reconvene.

The talks had stalled after President Kiir’s former rival Riek Machar’s party withdrew in July, citing plans by the mediators to replace the 2018 peace agreement that ended a five-year civil war in which more than 400,000 people died.

While the 2018 peace agreement is yet to be fully implemented, South Sudan postponed elections, scheduled for December 2023 to 2025, to establish electoral processes outlined in the agreement.

The latest peace talks aimed to provide a foundation for the inclusion of non-signatory groups to sustain peace in the east African country plagued by civil war and ethnic violence. 

But participants expressed concerns over a new security law that would allow the government to detain people without warrants.

The law was slammed by human rights groups.

South Sudan is going through an economic crisis that has seen civil servants go unpaid for almost a year, after oil exports were disrupted by a damaged pipeline in war-torn neighbouring Sudan.