The negotiating team of the government of Salva Kiir has returned to peace talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, joining the SPLM-G11 group, civil society, church leaders and mediators at a launch event on Friday.

IGAD, the East African organization facilitating the talks, stated in a press release, “Multi-stakeholder roundtable negotiations for South Sudan were launched this morning in Addis Ababa.”

“The talks will be conducted in a participatory and round-table format, in accordance with the 9 May 2014 Agreement to Resolve the Crisis in South Sudan,” reads the statement.

Heading the South Sudanese government’s negotiating team is Foreign Minister Nhial Deng (photo, center). Other members of the delegation from Juba include Information Minister Michael Makuei (above, left) and Deputy Foreign Minister Bashir Gbandi (right).

The members of the government team are loyal to the SPLM-Juba faction headed by Salva Kiir, while the SPLM-G11 group is headed by Pagan Amum, and the SPLM-IO faction is headed by Riek Machar. Other parties such as SPLM-DC led by Lam Akol are also participating in the talks.

SPLM-IO, the armed opposition, did not join the launch event on Friday, but the press statement by the mediation claimed that the group would be joining the talks.

These talks come after President Salva Kiir and SPLM-IO leader Riek Machar agreed on 10 June to expedite and complete dialogue on the formation of a transitional government of national unity within sixty days.

The two leaders made this commitment after a summit meeting with other East African leaders in which they were reportedly made to engage in face-to-face talks in the presence of other heads of state.

‘New political dispensation’

IGAD says the launch event on Friday marks the beginning of talks on ‘a new political dispensation.’ The mediation says also that this round of talks will aim to finalize security arrangements for the cessation of hostilities agreement.

In an interview with Radio Tamazuj on Friday, John Luk, the former justice minister and a member of the SPLM-G11 group, otherwise known as ‘SPLM Leaders’ or ‘Former Detainees,’ said the agenda for the talks included ceasefire arrangements and the formation of a transitional government.

The former minister said that the meeting on Friday featured speeches by the representatives of the different groups participating in the talks. After these, they were adjourned until Saturday awaiting the SPLM-IO group to join.  

Earlier this week the rebel delegation objected to the manner in which civil society representatives had been chosen for the talks. They are also reported to have had concerns about the format for the upcoming talks, which would place other stakeholders on apparently equal footing with them.

A spokesman of the faction, which is led by former vice president Riek Machar, said that the reason for their boycott was that mediators had not responded to a letter they had written about the selection of civil society representatives and other stakeholders. 

Photos: Participants at the peace talks in Addis Ababa, 20 June 2014 (IGAD)