A high-level delegation led by opposition leader Riek Machar arrived in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa to attend meetings on pending tasks in the peace deal.

The SPLM-IO delegation - which arrived on Tuesday ahead of today’s meeting – included Henry Odwar, Tingo Peter, Peter Marcello and Angelina Teny.

Pouk Both Baluang, the SPLM-IO’s director for information, told Radio Tamazuj this morning that Machar went to Addis Ababa to give technical advice to the SPLM-IO team at the meeting.

“Machar is in Addis Ababa to give technical advice to the team only. The issues that are being discussed are very important, so he would try to help by giving some technical advice on the way forward in case of any deadlock,” Pouk explained.

The opposition official pointed out that their delegation at the meeting is led by the movement’s deputy chairman, Henry Odwar.

South Sudan rival leaders had been unable to create a unified army and determine the number of states since the deal had been signed in September 2018.

In May, the parties to the agreement extended the pre-transitional period by six months ending in November 2019, in order to complete pending tasks, especially in relation to security arrangements.

The parties convened a meeting in Addis Ababa today morning to discuss the security arrangements and the number of states.