South Sudan to set up panels for peace deal mandate

Mar 14, 2006 (JUBA) — The Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Administrative Reform in the government of Southern Sudan has announced the formation of six teams that will set up Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)-mandated commissions in Southern Sudan.

Minister of Labour David Deng Athorbei told Sudan Radio Service (SRS) in Juba last week that there are many commissions to be established in Southern Sudan, as clearly stipulated in the CPA.

However, the minister added that they are only selecting six commissions for the moment, including land, public service, human rights, anti-corruption, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration.

He said each preparatory team will consist of 4 people and have one month to accomplish their tasks. The teams will prepare draft terms of reference for the 6 commissions, their organizational frameworks and acts or laws governing them.

Athorbei said “Once the three are finished, they will be presented to me. One in hard copy and the other one in electronic copy. I will take all these copies. I will present them to the president, maybe, in the presence of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, who from there will then pick it up.”

After the presentation of the draft act for each commission, the president of southern Sudan will then issue a decree for the establishment and appointment of the commissioners.

(SRS/ST)