The next round of peace talks may be moved from Ethiopia to South Africa this month.

The parties to the conflict started consultations yesterday in Addis Ababa on how to use the Arusha deal for the reunification of the three groups, to speed up the peace process.

But the next round of talks in South Africa will involve five African Countries in the IGAD mediation.

They include Nigeria, Chad, Rwanda, Algeria and South Africa.

“According to sources from the opposition and the former detainees, the consultations are aimed at ensuring the compatibility of the two processes, that is the Arusha reunification agreement and the Addis Ababa peace process,” reported Michael Minassie, Eye Radio’s correspondent in Ethiopia.

“This is happening ahead of the IGAD plus South Sudan talks, which is scheduled to be held in Johannesburg, South African, in mid-June, which is the coming weekend.”

However, the spokesman of the government delegation, Michael Makuei Lueth, told Eye Radio that his team is not aware whether the next round of talks will be held in South Africa.

The last round of talks ended in March in Addis Ababa without any agreement on the contentious issues, including power sharing, the reintegration of the army and the system of governance during the transitional period.