South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir on Monday received an invitation from the chairperson of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Hailemariam Dessalegn, to attend the revitalization forum.

The invitation to attend the event, scheduled for December 17, was delivered to President Kiir by Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Juba Fisseha Shawl.

“I have delivered the massage of my Prime Minister inviting the government for the revitalization forum which will start next week in Addis Ababa, and the president is sending his delegation happily,” Shawl said.

The Ethiopian diplomat pointed out that the forum will bring together all South Sudanese to agree on peace and security in the country.

Separately, the SPLM-IO faction allied to the former First Vice-President Riek Machar said it has not yet received any invitation to attend the revitalization forum.

Pouk Both Baluang, the SPLM-IO’s director for information and public relations, said they have not selected their representatives to attend the meeting.

He called on the international community to release Riek Machar from his house arrest in South Africa so they can send a team to participate in the revitalization forum.

In June, East African leaders at a summit decided to convene a meeting of the signatories of the 2015 peace deal in South Sudan in order to revitalize it.

Inter-Government Authority on Development (IGAD), is an 8-member economic bloc that brings together Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda.