By Parach Mach
JUBA, South Sudan (AA) - South Sudan’s National Dialogue Committee on Monday said it had failed to meet the armed opposition leader, Riek Machar while in South Africa, throwing into doubt the success of the dialogue process to end the civil war in the East African nation.
The delegation returned to the country on Sunday evening, wrapping up a five-day visit to South Africa in a bid to consult with Machar.
"The five-day visit to South Africa by our Dialogue Committee to engage the opposition in the dialogue process to end over three years of civil war wrapped up without meeting Machar," Betty Achan Ogwaro, the deputy co-chair of the steering committee told Anadolu Agency.
"We will continue to engage him on the way forward. We hope he will respond to our calls without preconditions on how we can end the suffering of our people," Achan said.
Machar had said in a letter sent to the committee last week that their focus was not on the national dialogue, but rather a mediated peace process.
South Sudan has been ravaged by more than three years of civil war and ethnic violence which broke out in late 2013 after South Sudan President Salva Kiir sacked his Vice President Machar.
Kiir launched a national dialogue initiative last year in which he urged opposition groups to join the dialogue table to discuss all the pressing issues, saying it would help unite the country and reconcile the people deeply divided by conflict since 2013.