A meeting of the three SPLM factions is expected to start in Arusha, Tanzania today, Tuesday as IGAD-led negotiations between the government and opposition forces remain stalled.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj yesterday, SPLM-G10 spokesman John Luk confirmed that the government and SPLM-IO delegations have already arrived in Arsuha. He pointed out that their group will arrive this morning in Arusha in an effort to push for internal reconciliation within the ruling party.

The SPLM-G10 leader Pagan Amum recently announced the group's merger with the ruling party, but a few of the prominent G10 members have not yet returned from exile to Juba.

“The delegations have already arrived in Arusha; the opposition had arrived since the last four days. The government delegation is on the way to Arusha because it left Juba this morning,” Luk said.

He further said the agenda of the meeting is unclear, but hinted that a tripartite committee will meet to implement the Arusha reunification deal. He predicted that the meeting would take place at noon today.

Tanzania's ruling CCM and South Africa's ANC parties launched an effort last year to try to reunite the separate factions of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLM). The CCM and ANC effort duplicated an intiative already begun by the Ethiopian ruling party EPRDF, which is no longer involved in the intra-party talks.

South Sudan broke apart and plunged into violence in December 2013 following bitter disagreements within the top leadership of the SPLM party, splintering the party into several groupings.

File photo: John Luk