The leader of Federal Democratic Party, one of the hold out armed dissident groups in South Sudanese conflict, has expressed his readiness to participate in the national dialogue called for by President Salva Kiir in December last year, while proposing that the UN Security Council or the African Union should serve as the patron to the dialogue instead of Kiir.

The Federal Democratic Party broke away from Machar's SPLM-IO in August 2015 prior to the signing of the main IGAD peace deal. The group purports to have an armed wing called the South Sudan Armed Forces (SSAF).

In a statement seen by Radio Tamazuj today, Federal Democratic Party leader Gabriel Changson Chang called for the formation of a panel of experts from Africa with sound track records on conflict resolution and transformation to develop the agenda for the national dialogue in consultation with the current government and opposition groups.

“The panel shall make use of credible resource persons with sound track records on conflict resolution and transformation or persons with relevant experience on South Sudan,” partly reads the statement.

The party leader pointed out that they believe that for the national dialogue process to have any impact on the resolution of the ongoing conflict, it should be genuine, credible, transparent and accountable.

The group urged the UN Security Council and the African Union to ask Troika countries, EU, IGAD and China to raise funds to help South Sudan financially to conduct the national dialogue to achieve an all-inclusive and sustainable peace that will silence guns in South Sudan.

The opposition party said that the national dialogue should include political parties, members of civil society organizations, faith-based groups, community-based organizations, youth and women groups, traditional chiefs, opinion leaders, academia and eminent South Sudanese personalities.

Changson Chan, who is a former youth and sports minister, proposed that the venue of the national dialogue should be outside South Sudan to provide a conducive environment for all participants, panel members and resource persons, preferably, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia or any other locations selected by the panel.

“The UN Security Council or AU shall convene a meeting of all the political parties, all opposition groups and the appointed panel of experts for the implementation of the agreed resolutions in any location of their choice,” adds the statement.

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