JUBA, South Sudan
A coalition of South Sudanese opposition parties has called on the government and rebels to meet for a "roundtable dialogue" with a view to ending the fighting that has "crippled the country for over a year."
"We want comprehensive reform and a transitional period that will pave the way for democracy in South Sudan," Lam Akol of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC), told a press conference in Juba.
He accused both sides of the conflict of "focusing on their personal interests and ignoring the suffering of the people."
Akol went on to assert that "comprehensive dialogue" represented the only way out of the country's political crisis.
Earlier this month, President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar failed to reach a much-anticipated peace deal, despite the expiry of a March 5 deadline set by the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), a regional grouping that has been mediating the peace process.
IGAD had to postpone talks indefinitely due to the warring parties' failure to clinch a final deal, while the UN Security Council passed a resolution imposing sanctions – including travel bans and asset freezes – on the conflict's stubborn antagonists.
