Minor political parties in South Sudan are aiming for seats at the IGAD-mediated peace talks in Addis Ababa and encouraging the two factions of SPLM, the now-divided party that dominated South Sudanese politics before December 2013, to return to the table after boycotting the opening of a new round of talks.

PPLF, an association of several parties, held a press conference on Tuesday after deliberating the question of inclusion of another two smaller parties at the peace talks. They urged the IGAD mediators not to include two parties at the peace talks, NIP and SSDF.

The South Sudan’s Political Parties Leadership Forum (PPLF) includes a number of groups that are usually referred to as opposition parties but in fact are aligned more closely with the governing SPLM-Juba faction headed by Salva Kiir than with either of the two other major SPLM factions, the SPLM-IO or the SPLM-G11.

In a press conference, a representative of the political parties urged the mediators to reject nominations of new ‘stakeholders’, including two groups likely to align with SPLM-IO.

Taban Luka Guya, the Secretary General of PPLF, said South Sudan Democratic Front (SSDF) and National Independent Part (NIP) should be rejected because they lack presence in South Sudan.

He further pointed out that the PPLF already selected its representation to the talks: “We have left seven of our members which represent PPLF at the peace talks after we have attended the symposium.”

The seven parties belonging to PPLF and participating in the talks are:

• Sudan People’s Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC), represented by Dr Lam Akol
• African National Congress Party (ANCP), represented by William L. Sebit
• Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), represented by Albino John Laku
• National Congress Party (NCP), represented by Bishop Gabriel Jur
• National Democratic Party (NDP), represented by James Aniceto Dataikeyo
• Communist Party (CP), represented by Ismail Suleiman Said
• United Democratic Salvation Front (UDSF), represented by Hon. Martin Tako Moyi  

According to the PPLF secretary-general, the parties convened their latest meeting and press conference after hearing from Addis Ababa that certain ‘displaced political parties’ wanted representation at the peace talks.

Among these are parties not registered in South Sudan, such as the South Sudan Democratic Front, headed by Professor David de Chand, a politician who opposed independence for the country and remained in exile in Khartoum since independence in 2011.

The National Independent Party (NIP), the other party rejected by the political parties’ association, is headed by MP Richard Mulla, who left the country recently and announced his alignment with the rebels of Riek Machar.

Meanwhile, in a press statement, the PPLF urged the IGAD mediation to exert pressure on the two warring parties so that the direct talks resume soon so as to meet the deadline of 60 days for forming an interim government.

“We stand firm to oppose any position that delays peace talks,” said Taban Luka Guya.

He also called on the two warring parties to stop fighting and political bickering and to immediately return to the negotiation table.

The start of a new round of peace talks between South Sudan’s warring parties were delayed last week when the armed opposition party SPLM-IO boycotted the launch event, after objecting to the process by which civil society representatives had been chosen for the talks. 

Photo: Taban Luka Guya (center) with other politicans