JUBA, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Efforts by South Sudan's ruling party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) to reunify its various factions stalled this week in Uganda after a faction failed to sign the Arusha reunification agreement, officials said on Saturday.
President Salva Kiir had sought his Ugandan ally President Yoweri Museveni to rejuvenate talks to reunify the various SPLM warring factions, excluding former first vice president Riek Machar SPLM-in opposition faction.
"We are committed to reuniting the SPLM and we would have wished the Former Detainees (FD's) to sign the final working document but they decided not saying they needed more consultation," Ezekiel Gatkuoth from the SPLM-In opposition (SPLM-IO) faction of first vice president Taban Deng said in Juba.
In January 2015 the SPLM, SPLM-IO and FD's under the mediation of Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) agreed to the Arusha reunification framework which seeks to bring unity to the SPLM and help end the more than three years violence in the youngest nation.
The SPLM-IO leadership split into two factions following the renewed July 2016 clash in Juba despite signing the 2015 peace agreement with President Kiir to end fighting.
The Arusha framework also seeks to encourage constitutional reforms within the SPLM due to undemocratic tendencies within the senior party organs having contributed to the outbreak of the December 2013 conflict.
Gatkuoth revealed that the ongoing talks that will continue in June will lead to implementation of the Arusha agreement and also bring peace to the oil-rich and yet impoverished country where the UN said one million people are on brink of famine.
"We have agreed to form a working committee tasked with developing the road map for the (implementation of) Arusha agreement," said Nunu Jema Kumba, the Acting SPLM Secretary General and head of the government delegation.
The FD's faction led by the self exiled former SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum including former defence minister Majak D' Agoot and former finance minister Kosti Manibe attended the Kampala talks and were previously tried for treason and acquitted by the state.
President Kiir recently launched the national dialogue which excludes Machar and both the SPLM-IO and FD's have in the past criticized the process for lack of inclusivity and transparency.
South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between President Kiir and his former deputy Machar led to fighting that pitted mostly Dinka ethnic soldiers loyal to Kiir against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.
The 2015 peace agreement to end the violence was again violated in July 2016 when the rival factions resumed fighting in the capital forcing the rebel leader Machar to flee into exile.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced over 2 million from their homes, and forced more than 1.5 million to flee into neighbouring countries.
