South Sudan gov’t delegation demands direct talks without mediation
February 14, 2018 (JUBA) – The delegation of the government at the peace talks has asked the mediation team to allow them to hold direct talks with representatives of various opposition without the mediation.
Government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth said through statement broadcast by the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation that holding direct discussion was necessary because there are issues which could be discussed without the participation of the mediation team because it is the same people who would eventually agree to reach the agreement being mediated by the third party.
The minister said South Sudanese should welcome and appreciate what he described a positive move and a sign that he hopes would encouraging parties to stop doing blame game and can come up with they can resolve some contentious matters to end suffering and killing in the country. The move followed a joint prayer service at which members of the rival parties at the talks participated.
A key member of the government delegation at the talks told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday that discussions without mediations were related to the system of governance and security arrangement.
The SPLM-IO also accepted the invitation and the parties held a meeting on Wednesday Sudan Tribune has learned. But nothing filtered from the meeting.
The move is one of the attempts to break the deadlock over how the system of governance and how the security sector in the country should be reformed in a way that it would reflective of the faces of different ethnic groups in the country.
CALL TO OVERCOME OBSTACLES
In a related development, the South Sudan Civil Society Organization Network in Diaspora (SSCSONID) has called on the South Sudanese warring parties to show flexibility in the negotiations and to achieve peace to put an end to the suffering of South Sudanese people
“There is no reason whatsoever that justifies the continuation of the war given the untold suffering of our innocent people,” said SSCSONID chairman Charles Obaj.
“The warring parties are requested to desist from hostile activities and adhere to the terms of the cessation of hostilities agreement,” he added.
He further called on the international community and friends of South Sudan to exert more Pressures on the warring sides in order to bring peace to South Sudan.
(ST)