The SPLM Intra-party Dialogue Forum has been launched in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The meeting brought together an advance team of the SPLM Political Bureau members. The dialogue is being led by the ruling party of the Ethiopian government, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front and the ruling party of the South African government, the African National Congress.

The SPLM Representative, Jema Nunu Kumba, reaffirmed her party’s commitment to resolve the differences within the SPLM leadership and through that, the crisis in South Sudan.

“This forum provides an important and right platform for our comrades the former SPLM detainees to effectively participate in the process of national reconciliation and healing,” said Mrs. Nunu.

Deng Alor Kuol, from the seven former detainees, or the SPLM- 7, called for an overhaul of the SPLM participation.

“In our view, the issues to be addressed within the SPLM to achieve internal unity and harmony include, inter alia, the following: vision and direction of the SPLM, democratic transformation of the SPLM, leadership succession issues, organization matters, decision making and collective leadership within the party structures,” he said.

There were no representatives from the SPLM-SPLA in the-Opposition during the launch of the SPLM Intra-Party Dialogue.

The intra-party dialogue aims at paving the way for the SPLM leadership to provide a critical contribution to the on-going broader political dialogue towards national reconciliation and healing.