Several political leaders in South Sudan have downplayed President kiir’s call for a national dialogue to end violent conflicts,reconstitute national consensus, and save the country from disintegration and usher in a new era of peace, stability and prosperity.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj in an interview,former Western Equatoria Governor Joseph Bangasi Bakosoro, who is currently living in exile,said that President Kiir’s call for a national dialogue is meaningless because fighting is ongoing in different parts of South Sudan.

"The natonal dialogue will not work. You are not conducting the dialogue with yourself, if you want to have dialogue with the opposition and other people who have problems, you cannot hold it inside the country , so who will join you? it is not acceptable,"said Bakosoro.

"Anyway I do not understand that dialoge, because in South Sudan, people are not allowed to talk, media is not free, so what kind of dialogue is that?" he asked.

Meanwhile, Joseph Modesto, Political Secretary of South Sudan’s Communist Party, expressed concern about the future of the signed peace agreement after the proposed national dialogue.

Modesto called on the warring parties to review the signed peace agreement, while accusing the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) of failing to oversee the peace agreemet in South Sudan.

"I am concerned about the future of the signed peace agreement after the dialogue,the President is saying that the agreement will be the basis for the dialogue, but that agreement has been violated several times, so I think there is need to review the agreement and identify the problem," he said.

File photo: President Salva Kiir