The Minister of Information is urging the IGAD not to rush the peace process.

The continuation of 2nd phase of the High Level Revitalization Forum has been scheduled to take place on the 17th of May.

The talks were supposed to commence on the 2nd of this and this was after they were first postponed from the 26th of April.

IGAD said the postponement was to allow continuation of shuttle diplomacy meetings with the parties in order to have a meaningful outcome of the mediation.

“In case they do not succeeded to bridge the gap, then definitely this period will not be of any essence,” he said.

“The best advice is not to hurry up with the talks, but to ensure that you do a shuttle diplomacy which was agreed so that you are in a position to harmonize the positions before we even go in for these talks.”

The High Level Revitalization Forum was proposed last year by IGAD to develop revised and realistic timelines for the August 2015 agreement.

During the first phase of the forum, deliberations focused on achieving a cessation of hostilities and culminated in the signing of an Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities, Protection of Civilians and Humanitarian Access.

The second phase of the forum, convened in February, kicked off with deliberations on the Declaration of Principles to guide the dialogue.

It also deliberated on Chapter I and II of peace agreement which talks about governance and Permanent Ceasefire and Transitional Security Arrangements.