Quartet Committee Formed to Extend Negotiation Period in Juba Forum

Juba,  (SUNA)The government delegation headed by member of the Transitional Sovereign Council, Mr. Mohamed Hassan Osman Al Taayshi, and leaders of the Revolutionary Front, held a meeting this evening, Saturday, at the Palm Africa Hotel in Juba, in the presence of member of the South Sudan’s mediation team, Dio Matok to determine the clause of entry into force of negotiations, which had expired in the 14th of current February.

The member of the Transitional Sovereign Council, Mohammed Hassan Al-Taishi, indicated in a press statement, following the meeting, the need to extend the period of negotiation that is supposed to end today, noting that there is a common desire to give opportunity for the completion of discussion of the remaining issues.

He stressed that they are not big issues and most of them already discussed, and that the parties identified the need for additional time, asserting that it is not going to be a long time because the remaining issues are not that big, while it should not be short, “which makes us come with an immature agreement, while the remaining time should be reasonable to give indications to the Sudanese people that we are about to reach a comprehensive peace agreement, and also to give positive indications to our partners in the international community and the mediators that we are serious about reaching a peace agreement” he added.

He pointed out to the dominating positive atmosphere following the good news of the conflicting parties in south Sudan reaching agreement on the issue of the states’ number in southern Sudan.

On his part, the spokesman of the Revolutionary Front, Ahmed Tugod Lisan, said that the period of negotiation’s specified period of time has expired today, and the discussion has been limited on how to reach a required period of time for the signing of a peace agreement, indicating that the discussion content and the exchange of ideas is positive, stressing that the negotiations made Significant progress in all tracks with an understanding on more than 70% of the issues under discussion, he continued to say: “Therefore, there is a need to extend the discussions for a sufficient period of time to resolve the remaining issues.”

Meanwhile, the member of the Southern Sudan Mediation Team, Dr. Dio Matok, said: “The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the clause of entry into force of negotiations in Juba Forum, which has expired in the 14th of current February, and we have noticed that we need a period of time to complete the rest of the files after the parties have achieved 70% of the tracks.” , announcing the formation of a quartet committee from the two parties to determine the period that will enable them to complete the remaining issues to reach a comprehensive peace.