IGAD calls for participation of South Sudan opposition leadership in peace talks

August 7, 2015 (JUBA) – The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an east African regional bloc mediating an internationally backed peace efforts to end the more than twenty months of war in South Sudan, has expressed disappointment with the decision of president Salva Kiir’s government which denied members of the national alliance of political parties outside the government travel to the venue of the talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The regional group, according to its statement reacting to the blockade of the group under the leadership of Lam Akol, leader of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC), confirmed that the group was officially invited to travel to the peace talks in Addis Ababa.

The statement of the expanded mediation team “expresses their collective commitment to the inclusivity of the South Sudan peace process” and called on the South Sudanese government “to immediately allow these and all invited representatives to travel and participate fully.

“In this regard, we express our concern that invited representatives of South Sudanese political parties have reportedly been prevented from travelling to Addis Ababa to participate in the IGAD PLUS process, which resumed yesterday,” the statement obtained by Sudan Tribune reads in part.

Lam Akol, SPLM-DC’s leader on Thursday told journalists in Juba that he was prevented from boarding a plane to Addis Ababa by a senior police officer who claimed to have acted on the orders from the presidency.

(ST)