Igad Special Envoys tasked with finding a solution to ongoing crisis in South Sudan have said there is major progress on the issue of cessation of hostilities as both the government and the detainees have committed to unconditional negotiations on the same.

In a Press statement released after consultations held in Juba with President Salva Kiir and detainees on Tuesday and Wednesday, the mediators said the president reiterated his government’s position that the current crisis is political and reaffirmed his full support to the search for a political solution.

“The President also expressed the government’s commitment to unconditional negotiations on cessation of hostilities to bring an end to the violence in his country,” read part of the statement.

The envoys also met the detainees and held discussions on the crisis. The detainees concurred that the crisis is indeed a political one requiring political solution.

“In light of the ongoing peace talks in Addis Ababa, the detainees expressed their support to the talks on unconditional cessation of hostilities and further stated that their status as detainees should not be an impediment to reaching an agreement on cessation of hostilities,” read the statement.

The government is currently holding 11 of Riek Machar's allies, many of them senior figures and former ministers, but has been under pressure from Igad as well as Western diplomats to release them as a goodwill gesture.

Machar's camp has insisted the government must first release political prisoners, saying the prisoners are part of the solution.

The government on its part maintains the detainees should be put on trial for their role in what the president says was an attempted coup.

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The envoys also noted that there continues to be a progress towards political dialogue and that direct negotiations between the parties are continuing in Addis Ababa in good spirit.

The Igad mediation team to South Sudan is chaired by Ambassador Seyoum Mesfin and special envoys Gen Lazaro Sumbeiywo and Gen Mohammed Ahmed Moustafa El Dabi alongside the  executive secretary Ambassador Eng Mahboub Maalim.