The leader of the SPLM-in-Opposition faction Riek Machar has arrived in Tanzania following a week of intra-factional talks facilitated by Tanzania’s foreign minister.
Tanzania’s ruling party CCM hosted talks among the South Sudanese factions SPLM-IO, SPLM-Juba, SPLM-G10 from 12-18 October in Arusha. The initiative falls outside the auspices of the IGAD-led formal peace process, which is presently adjourned.
Riek Machar’s spokesman James Gatdet Dak said that the rebel leader arrived in Arusha on Sunday.
“The leadership of SPLM/SPLA is invited by the Tanzanian leadership to discuss the political crisis in South Sudan,” said Dak, as quoted by Sudan Tribune.
Meanwhile, in an interview aired on Radio Tamazuj on Monday morning, Professor Luka Biong Deng expressed optimism about the Arusha meetings calling it a “very good initiative” that could lead toward reconciliation within the SPLM.
Sudan Tribune further hinted at the possibility of a meeting in Tanzania between the two principal leaders in the ongoing conflict, Riek Machar and Salva Kiir, reporting, “Committees from the three groups of SPLM… have been working out a framework document this week which the rival leaders may witness in the signing.”
Luka, however, who serves as Director of the Center for Peace and Development Studies at Juba University, downplayed the possibility of the two principals signing an agreement, while stressing the need for comprehensive talks within the SPLM.
Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), a Finnish organization supporting the talks in Arusha, said in a press statement that the purpose of the meetings in Arusha has been “to discuss and prepare a framework on the root causes of the internal crisis within the SPLM, which have plunged the country into the current civil war.”
Machar, meanwhile, is also expected to meet with President Jakaya Kikwete, according to Gatdet. This comes after a meeting with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday.
Gatdet said on his Facebook page that Machar’s meeting with Kenyatta focused “on the status of the peace process… particularly on our positions in the contentious issues of governance and leadership structure.”
File photo: Riek Machar signs the Agreement to Resolve the Crisis in South Sudan, 9 May 2014. Pictured to his right is Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, guarantor of the deal.
Correction, 14:30: A previous version of this article stated that Luka Biong Deng downplayed the possibility of Machar and Kiir meeting in Arusha. This has been changed to clarify that he downplayed the possibility of them signing an agreement while in Arusha.