South Sudan’s prominent opposition leader, Riek Machar said the national dialogue launched officially by President Salva Kiir last month is not a priority for his rebel group.

This comes after the co-chair of the national dialogue in Juba, Abel Alier on Friday sent a written request to Machar for consultations on the dialogue process.

“As much as we believe the national dialogue is an important process for the people of South Sudan to engage in, however, it is our considered opinion that the priority is to end the raging genocidal war in the country that has created and displaced over two million people internally and 2.5 million people as refugees in the neighbouring countries,” wrote Machar on Saturday.

The exiled opposition leader emphasized the need for a negotiated peace process to end the ongoing civil war in the world’s youngest nation instead of national dialogue.

“As such, our efforts are focused on searching for a sustainable peace through a mediated peace process to end the war rather than national dialogue,” he said.

In December 2016, President Kiir, whose wrangling for power with his former deputy Riek Machar plunged the world's newest nation into a brutal conflict, called for "national dialogue" to end the civil war.

But the opposition group led by Riek Machar described the dialogue process to end the ongoing conflict as bogus.