The second phase of the High Level Revitalization Forum was closed on Wednesday evening after parties submitted their positions on the bridging proposals on governance and security to IGAD.

On Tuesday, IGAD gave the parties the proposal so that they could deliberate on it.

The continued phase of the forum started last week and was mediated by the church.

Parties thereafter signed a document on the progress of the intra-South Sudanese talks and the church handed the process over to IGAD.

Information Minister Michael Makuei said his team – which is representing the Government of South Sudan – has some reservations on the IGAD proposal.

“Some of those areas are of removal of the first Vice president and the president and responsibility sharing,” he said.

Meanwhile, the South Sudan Opposition Alliance rejects the proposal, saying it is not inclusive.

Kwaje Lasu spoke on behalf of the group:

“We believe that this proposal is the government’s proposal adopted by IGAD mediators. This does not reflect inclusivity in terms of responsibility sharing in at all level.”

The IGAD Bridging Proposal gives the position of the first vice president to the IO of Dr Riek Machar.

But IO still rejects it.

Mabior Garang is the SPLM/A-IO chairperson for information and public relations:

“The current proposal is called the bridge and we have rejected the proposal because it does not reflect the views which we had in the proposals,” he said.

“In fact it looks more like an agreement on surrender because it has given everything to government.”

However, the inter-governmental authority on development says its bridging proposal to the peace parties is based on the realities in South Sudan.

The remark was made by the IGAD Council of Ministers during the closing of the second phase of the high-level revitalization forum in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, this evening.

In his closing remarks, Workneh Gebeyehu described the proposal as balanced and comprises political, economic and social aspects on the ground:

“The IGAD Council fully believes that the proposal is balanced and has taken into account the current political, economic and social realities on the ground.”