Ongoing talks between South Sudan government delegations and the SPLM/A-IO (Mangenis faction)  in Khartoum were initiated by the parties themselves and not a process led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Sudanese government clarified in a statement on Wednesday.

The Sudanese embassy in Juba said there were no invitations sent from IGAD to any party to attend the Khartoum peace talks between the parties.

IGAD was the regional bloc that mediated the 2018 revitalized peace deal between South Sudan government and several other armed and non-opposition groups to end more than five years of a bloody civil war.

“The ongoing talks in Khartoum between the parties mentioned above was initiated by the parties themselves, and they have agreed to conduct their talks in Khartoum as a venue only,” partly reads the January 13 statement extended to Sudan Tribune.

According to the statement, Sudan, accepted to host negotiations between the two parties considering it continued support for efforts aimed at the implementation of the September 2018 revitalized agreement or other efforts aimed at achieving peace in South Sudan.

“At the same time, the government of Sudan does not and will not support any direction of reopening the R-ARCSS or any part of it for any negotiation between parties,” stressed the statement.

The Sudanese government further said it does not intend to open a new forum for peace talks or to propose any suggestion or plans to the parties currently in Khartoum regarding their ongoing discussions.

On Sunday, South Sudan government and a splinter faction of the SPLM/A-IO signed a peace deal to end conflict in Upper Nile State.

This came barely a week after peace talks between the South Sudanese security delegation led by Presidential Adviser for Security Affairs, Tut Gatluak and a delegation of the SPLA/IO-Kitgwang faction led by General Simon Gatwech Dual resumed in Khartoum.

Sudan is the guarantor of the September 2018 peace agreement which was negotiated in Khartoum.