From AFP via ahramonline

The second round of peace talks on South Sudan, scheduled to start later Monday, has been postponed, officials said.

“The talks are not resuming today,” South Sudan government spokesman Michael Makuei told AFP. A government official from host country Ethiopia confirmed the postponement.

The two sides has previously agreed to meet again Monday for a second phase of negotiations on a political agreement designed to address the root causes of the unrest.

Seven South Sudanese political figures, who were among 11 arrested in Juba when the fighting broke out in mid-December and who were freed at the end of January, were due to take part in the talks, IGAD said.

The other four who were arrested — presented as Machar sympathisers — are still detained in Juba. The government side wants to try them, along with two other political figures — including Machar himself — who are the run.

The detainees had been a major obstacle to progress in the first round, and the fate of the four is set to come up again in the latest talks.

“We are still requesting, or demanding, the release of the remaining detainees,” rebel spokesman Yohanis Musa Pouk told AFP.

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