Civil society organisations have proposed the reconstitution of parliamentary seats and transformation of the army as suggestions to unlock a stalemate between the government and opposition parties at the peace talks.

The proposals were presented on Tuesday during a consultative meeting by the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development IGAD which is facilitating the peace talks and civil society groups in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa ahead of the upcoming talks towards the end of the month.

Edmund Yakani of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation CEPO told Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday that the activists proposed the retention of 266 elected parliamentary seats but suggested compromises for inclusive representation for the 134 seats to maintain the total of 400 seats.

In the security sector, they proposed transformation of the army and comprehensive cantonment of forces for a period of one year with the aim of constituting a national army.

A press release by IGAD on Wednesday stated that the IGAD Special Envoy for South Sudan, accompanied by other officials held consultations on 10^th April 2018 with representatives of the South Sudanese Civil Society Stakeholders to discuss key outstanding issues at the Forum. The consultations with the parties and stakeholders to are meant to narrow the gap between the parties on key areas of disagreements including governance and security arrangements.

However, speaking during the weekend, Vice President James Wani Igga alluded that any proposals to dissolve the army are “unwise” and is unacceptable to the government.