Peace negotiations aimed at ending the conflict in South Sudan "are not transparent" and not inclusive, former political detainees said.
Talks between the South Sudan warring parties are still ongoing in Khartoum. The opposition recently protested against a power sharing proposal presented during a closed-door meeting in Uganda.
The former detainees, who also described themselves as SPLM leaders, issued a statement on Tuesday saying the latest session of peace talks was marred by lack of transparency.
The group argued that the delegation of responsibility of mediating South Sudan peace talks to individual member states by IGAD has made the youngest nation a battlefield for regional players with competing interests.
“As such the IGAD-led peace process is facing a serious challenge to achieve peace in South Sudan,” partly reads the statement bearing the name of Pagan Amum, leader of the SPLM-FDs.
The South Sudanese opposition official urged the international community to engage actively in support of the mediation process.