Kiir and Machar in 2016 in Juba

Sudan has requested to host the face-to-face meeting between President Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar, according to the Minister of Information.

Last week, the IGAD Council of Ministers recommended the meeting be held this month.

According to Information Minister Michael Makuei, the two leaders are supposed to meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

However, he said Sudan’s president Omar el Bashir has requested that the talks be held in Khartoum:

“A delegation led by his Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Sudan came yesterday. And he presented the same request to his Excellency the president from his brother Omar Hassan El-Bashir requesting if the president will accept, then he will be ready to bring them together in Khartoum.”

Mr. Makuei said President Kiir has accepted the request but asked El Bashir to coordinate with IGAD.

Dr. Riek fled the country and has been under house arrest in South Africa.

The IGAD Council of Ministers’ recommendation came after calls by the president for him to return to the country.

Kenya has also initiated what it calls the handshake to bring President Kiir and Riek Machar together.

Last week, it sent its peace envoy former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to Juba, where he held a closed door meeting with President Salva Kiir.

According to Kenyan Daily Nation, the two met for seven hours in what seemed to usher in Odinga’s full-blown role as an African Union special envoy.

Mr Odinga is also expected to visit SPLM/A-IO leader Riek Machar, who is under house arrest in South Africa.