South Sudan’s armed opposition faction (SPLM-IO) is still considering whether it would join the national dialogue process or not, the group’s Secretary General said Friday last week.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Tingo Peter said a committee the party instituted was still studying proposals on joining the national dialogue process.
“This is one of the reasons why we did not attend the regional dialogue in Wau,” he said.
Tingo said the SPLM-IO committee, which is headed by Elias Nyamlell, is tasked with studying documents and papers earlier presented by the national dialogue body as it finds ways of joining the process.
“We want to say we are not part of the national dialogue. We were not invited and we think the committee formed by our chairman is the only mechanism to guide us on issues of national dialogue,” he said.
In December 2016, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir launched the national dialogue initiative that seeks to reconcile and unite the East African nation torn apart by more than four years of civil war.
But South Sudan opposition groups did not attend the regional dialogue conference which started in the town of Wau on 25 February and concluded on 2 March.