South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar will visit Sudan in early August, the opposition has said, following an official notification from Khartoum that it is ready to receive him.

SPLM-IO director of protocol Hatim Chuai Deng told Radio Tamazuj that the Sudanese government has officially invited Dr. Riek Machar to pay a three-day visit to Khartoum sometime between 1 to 9 August and that Machar will meet with President Omar Al Bashir.

“We were given a choice by Khartoum to select the appropriate dates for the visit. I think the visit will last for two to three days according to arrangements made by the mediators,” he said.

The visit was announced several weeks ago as part of Machar’s tour of member states of the East African Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the regional bloc that is mediating peace talks, but has been the subject of controversy.

South Sudan’s government opposes Machar’s visit to Khartoum, saying the move contravenes the terms and conditions of the Joint Cooperation Agreement signed by the two countries in September 2012.

Hatim said the delegation is still waiting for a reply from the Sudanese embassy in Addis Ababa.

He added Machar and Al Bashir will discuss issues pertaining to the peace process.  He said the SPLM-IO delegation will brief the Sudanese government on the ongoing political unrest in South Sudan as well.

Civil society in Addis Ababa

Separately, Hatim said representatives of the two parties to the conflict would hold a meeting in Addis Ababa on 30 July to discuss how the other ‘stakeholders’ could join in. The mediation have proposed the involvement of civil society and other political parties as stakeholders.

The SPLM-IO has submitted the names of the stakeholders it proposes to participate to the IGAD mediation including activists inside IDP camps and members of the diaspora, according to Hatim.

He said they agreed with the IGAD mediators to include civil society organizations and political parties in a consultative role only, not as negotiators in the next round of talks.

SPLM-IO last week announced a high-level visit to Uganda, but the rebel delegation upon arrival was not received by Ugandan diplomats.