The East African regional bloc IGAD recently ruled out a renegotiation of the September 2018 peace agreement.
Speaking at press conference on Thursday, Malong’s spokesman, Sunday de John criticized the regional bloc for attaching preconditions for further talks about the peace deal.
The IGAD special envoy to South Sudan Ismail Wais and Gen. Paul Malong are scheduled to meet in Nairobi, Kenya on March 11.
Their talks will centre modalities for the rebel group’s participation in the peace process.
Mr. Sunday called on the regional bloc to help open talks on the revitalised peace deal. “Peace cannot be achieved if there is no dialogue in South Sudan,” he said.
The rebel official dismissed the peace agreement signed by President Salva Kiir and several opposition groups last year as fatally flawed.
“The revitalised peace agreement has not addressed the root cause of the conflict. It focuses on positions only, so we want it to be reopened,” he said.
“IGAD has invited us for a meeting and at the same time is saying the peace agreement will not be reopened for negotiations, so how will we join it?” he asked.
Sunday further said his group wants to see a federal system of government introduced in South Sudan.
He said the current 32 states created by President Kiir will not end conflicts in the country.
“One of our demands is that the current leadership should be changed. We are going to meet IGAD soon and we will ask them again to reopen the agreement,” he said.
In November last year, the East African regional bloc warned that the non-signatory groups in South Sudan would “be categorized as spoilers of the peace process” if they reject peace.
In an invitation letter dated 1 March and addressed to the holdout rebel leader Gen. Thomas Cirillo of the National Salvation Front (NAS), the regional bloc of eight member states said any group unwilling to join the revitalized peace deal and whose activities impede its full implementation would be considered as a spoiler and held accountable.
The coalition of non-signatory groups, which demands for a federal system of governance and devolution of powers to the regions, is composed of NAS, SSNMC, NDM, and UDRA. It is led by NAS leader Thomas Cirillo.
The letter, bearing the name of IGAD special envoy for South Sudan, said any new rebel group will not be admitted into the revitalized peace deal, except through the revitalized peace framework.
IGAD stressed that any activity attributable to forces allied to a non-signatory group in South Sudan will be deemed dully authorized by the leadership of that group.
The special envoy urged the leader of the rebel group National Salvation Front (NAS), Gen. Cirillo to declare a unilateral ceasefire.
“In light of the above, I would like to invite you and your team to a meeting on 8th March 2019 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,” Ismail wrote.
He explained that the upcoming meeting aims at discussing substantive issues regarding the possibility and modalities of NAS rejoining the revitalized peace accord and the peace process.
On his part, NAS’s spokesperson Suba Samuel Manase told reporters that they had received the invitation letter from IGAD.
“The leadership of the South Sudan National Democratic Alliance met and adopted a position. Our position on the letter will be released soon,” he said.
“We don’t want to comment on the letter now but what I can say is that the letter contains threats. I don’t see any possibility of talks in the letter,” he added.