Government negotiation team attends a session in Addis Ababa - Feb 2014.

A member of the government’s peace talk’s delegation says Chiefs should be involved in the process.

James Akok says peace cannot be achieved without the involvement of local leaders and chiefs. The talks are taking place in Addis Ababa.

He believes that engaging traditional leaders in the peace process will bring stability in the country, and this was what happened during the 1991 division.

“During the war, it was you [chiefs] who kept the peace. You were fighting in the war and you were keeping the peace of our community, without you, [there’s] no South Sudan,” said Mr Akok.

The ongoing peace dialogue in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, is mainly between the warring parties – the SPLM and SPLM/A-IO and the civil society.