Members of the National Alliance of Political Parties of South Sudan on Tuesday said they were denied access to the State House meeting called for by President Salva Kiir on Monday for all political parties in the country.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, Deng Bior the Secretary General of the alliance said the meeting took place as five leaders of different political parties in the alliance waited at the State House reception.
“Why we didn’t attend the meeting is something we do not know. We were seated at the reception (State House) and security took our paper to the secretarial but our names didn’t come back. We found out that it is the meeting of the parties that are allied to the government and we didn’t participate because we are an alliance of political parties in opposition,” he said.
Bior explained that they came to the meeting following an announcement over state radio calling on five representatives of both the National Agenda Party and the National Alliance parties to attend the consultative meeting at State House on Monday.
Bior said said they will maintain their position as opposition parties in the next IGAD consultative meeting on the Revitalization Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“We shall still go for the peace talks with our position and if they prevent us then it is another thing that would be a violation of the Revitalization process itself,” Bior said.
The five leaders excluded from the meeting include the South Sudan Communist Party leader Ismail Suleiman, National United Democratic Forum leader Sarah Nene, Democratic Unionist Party leader, Albino John Laku, United South Sudan Party leader, Paulino Lukudu Obede and the Secretary General of National Alliance Democratic Party, Deng Bior Deng.