The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) reiterated yesterday its support for the peace process led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), calling for its opponent to negotiate in good faith.

Spokesman Mabior Garang de Mabior said in a press release, “The SPLM/SPLA would like to restate its full confidence in the IGAD peace process in Ethiopia and in the leadership of Ambassador Seyoum Mesfin in the Office of the Special Envoys for South Sudan (OSESS).”

However, Garang slammed a government minister at the talks for reportedly saying on the BBC Focus on Africa program that the government wants the venue to be changed as well as the chief mediator.

Minister Michael Makuei Lueth, the spokeperson of the government, had also blamed foreign powers for seeking “regime change” in South Sudan and for being “responsible for the beginning of the crisis” in South Sudan.

Garang called the minister’s remarks an attempt to “delay peace and prolong the suffering of the people of South Sudan,” accusing the government of “intransigence.”

He said the peace talks should remain in Ethiopia, explaining, “The shifting of the Peace Talks from Ethiopia would just be an unnecessary delay of peace and would only prolong the suffering of the people of South Sudan.”

File photo: IGAD Special Envoy and chief mediator Seyoum Mesfin (right)

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