Kenyan Pres Uhuru Kenyatta stands amidst released political detainees - Jan, 2014. Photo by Kenyan Presidency.

The 7 former political detainees who were in the custody of the Kenyan President, are now in Addis Ababa for the second round of talks.

IGAD earlier quoted the seven as saying they would like to participate in the talks as a third bloc.

IGAD is meeting with them to confirm they do not want to take part on the side of the government or on the side of the SPLM/SPLA –in Opposition.

The spokesperson of the SPLM/SPLA- in Opposition, Yohanis Pouk, told Eye Radio in Addis Ababa that the 7 will declare their position this afternoon.

“IGAD will now meet them before we have our meeting and then later we will issue a statement on their status whether they will be on our side or they will be independent,” said Mr Pouk.

Mr. Pouk said if the 7 politicians opt to be independent in the negotiations, the SPLM/SPLA – in Opposition will respect their decision.

“We have no doubt that they are our colleagues, but according to the protocol of IGAD, they may say that these people will stand on their own group or team and that will not make a difference, because when we go to the hall, we will discuss the same issue and we will be one people,” he added.

“What we want is that they must participate in this second round because their participation is positive and it can help in finding a solution to the crisis.”

Yesterday, the IGAD mediation team received a preliminary report from the advance team of the IGAD Joint Technical Committee that has been conducting a pre-deployment assessment in South Sudan for the Monitoring and Verification Mechanism.

Some members of the team continue with the assessment mission, especially in opposition-held areas.

The second round of talks on political issues and national healing in South Sudan has been moved outside Addis Ababa to a town called Deberzait.