The ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement party under President Salva Kiir announced a plan to convene its first extraordinary convention on 12 December.

SPLM secretary for information Bol Makueng told Radio Tamazuj that the extraordinary convention will be held on Saturday.

Makueng, who serves as the deputy minister of education, said invitations have already been extended to all party members who attended the 2008 convention.

When asked about the status of the SPLM-G10 also known as the “Former Detainees” and armed opposition, Makueng said the SPLM-G10 members are now in the capital Juba, but the question would be directed to the armed opposition.

"This convention will be attended by those who came in the 2008 convention and whoever abides by the SPLM constitution and its regulations will attend and nobody will prevent him or her," he said.

“The list had hundreds of participants, it contains up to 600 or 1000. So I cannot recall, but their names are there because the participants who are expected to come were elected in the 2008 convention," he added.

Several observers have expressed fear that the Arusha Agreement on the reunification of the warring SPLM factions could collapse if Kiir’s faction holds a convention.

A smoldering political rift within the SPLM party flared into fighting between supporters of President Salva Kiir and former vice-president Riek Machar in 2013 following a tense convention held in mid-December.