SPLM-IO chief negotiator Taban Deng is scheduled to travel to the Sudanese capital Khartoum next week for a three-day consultative conference on the current political unrest in South Sudan, a rebel official told Radio Tamazuj.

The consultative conference is scheduled to take place on 12 January under the auspices of the Chinese government.

Last Monday the SPLM-IO leader Riek Machar held a meeting with the Chinese special envoy for Africa Ambassador Zhong Jianhua in Addis Ababa where they discussed the matter.

SPLM-IO deputy head of information and public relations Manawa Peter Gatkuoth said that the meeting aimed at bringing the two warring parties closer for the sake of peace.

Manawa said he expected the participation of IGAD and the Juba government, while denying reports that the Chinese are facilitating the conference in order to serve their oil interest in South Sudan.

But he noted that the opposition faction is also keen to preserve natural resources of South Sudan. He expressed concern over what he termed “squandering of oil money” by the Juba government on payments to foreign troops especially the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces (UPDF).

Radio Tamazuj could not reach government officials in Juba to comment on the arrangements for the Khartoum meeting.