South Sudan's main opposition group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In-Opposition (SPLM-IO), on Monday called for the resumption of talks on the outstanding issues.

Last month, President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar agreed to hold more talks on all the outstanding issues in the first week of January.

Puok Both Baluang, the SPLM-IO director of information, told Radio Tamazuj that they have not yet received any invitation from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc for East Africa, to resume the talks on the outstanding issues.

The opposition official emphasized the need for a series of meetings between the two principles as a deadline looms in February for the parties to form a transitional government.

Pouk said with less than six weeks remaining to meet the extended deadline to form a new government, South Sudan’s leaders have to review progress in the implementation of the peace agreement.

“We are now waiting for IGAD to invite the parties to resume face-to-face meetings,” he said.

Pouk pointed out that the parties have made substantive progress in the implementation of the transitional security arrangements, especially the process of transporting the unified forces to their training centres.

The rival parties have twice failed to form the unity government, first in May 2019 and then in November the same year, when they agreed to give themselves100 days to resolve disputed issues and form a transitional government by 22 February 2020.

Under the terms of the peace deal, the parties are to create a unified army and agree on the number and boundaries of states.

Kiir and Machar last month expressed hope that South Africa’s Deputy President David Mabuza, who mediates the talks on the number of states, could play a big role in bridging the divergent viewpoints of the parties.