Leaders of the South Sudanese churches who formed the National Platform for Peace and Reconciliation together with two other institutions earlier this month have requested to observe the upcoming round of peace talks in Addis Ababa.
The Kiir government and Machar rebel group have joined several rounds of negotiations in the Ethiopian capital since December. Earlier this month the government negotiators came home from Addis Ababa saying the talks were suspended again until 23 April.
Church leaders, for their part, met on Thursday with the government delegation. In a statement issued after the meeting, the Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul said they pressed Chief Negotiator Nhial Deng Nhial to embrace a spirit of dialogue as the only solution to the crisis.
He was joined by Chuol Rambang and David Okweir, two of the other leaders of the National Platform for Peace and Reconciliation.
The platform was launched on 5 April as an initiative of three institutions: the Committee for National Healing, Peace and Reconciliation headed by Archbishop Daniel Deng, the government’s peace commission, and a parliamentary peace committee.
Yesterday the Catholic Radio Network reported that Rambang presented a number of documents to the government delegation, demanding that the Platform should be included as an observer in the talks.
Archbishop Daniel Deng told the delegation that the Platform was formed to consolidate voices calling for peace in the country. David Okweir said though the Platform includes government-instituted peace bodies, it would play an impartial role in the peace talks.
Government Chief Negotiator Nhial Deng Nhial is reported to have commended the new idea of voices of the civil society being consolidated into a unified body.
Photo: Launch of the National Platform for Peace and Reconciliation, 5 April 2014
Related coverage:
South Sudan reconciliation platform to gather ‘body of truth’ (14 Apr.)
Bishops to South Sudan leaders: ‘Stop the war’ (13 Apr.)