One month has passed so far and the East African regional bloc IGAD has not yet started to carry out consultations with South Sudan’s warring parties before the next round of talks could take place in Addis Ababa.
The second round of peace talks between delegations aligned to President Kiir and opposition groups was suspended temporarily after the parties reached a deadlock on governance and security arrangements on 16 February.
The IGAD mediation team said the third round of the peace talks will resume in four weeks’ time after intensified efforts to assist the parties to make the necessary compromises that will resolve the outstanding issues.
Edmund Yakani, executive director of the non-profit Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, told Radio Tamazuj that the deadline set by the East African regional bloc IGAD for consultations with the south Sudan warring parties has already passed without any progress.
The activist, who is also a stakeholder in the peace process, said the mediation team has not started any official communication with the warring parties on the start of the third round of the peace process in Addis Ababa.
The leading South Sudanese civil society activist said the delay could be attributed to the recent political developments in Ethiopia, referring to resignation of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn last month.
"Internal arrangements in Ethiopia have affected the South Sudanese peace process, but we expect that the talks will resume at the end of this month," Yakani said.
Yakani said that the third round of peace talks was supposed to begin today according to the deadline set by the mediation team.
IGAD officials could not immediately be reached to explain its plan for the third round of the peace talks in Addis Ababa.