South Sudan MPs reject proposal to dissolve constitution
March 5, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudanese lawmakers have rejected proposals to have the constitution dissolved, accusing armed opposition leader, Riek Machar of making “impossible” demands.
The assembly, he said, should instead be expanded to accommodate members of the armed opposition and other stakeholders based on provisions of what has been agreed upon.
“Even in the formula of the CPA [Comprehensive Peace Agreement] they tried to adopt and use in the negotiation, the national assembly in Khartoum was not dissolved, but it was expanded to accommodate members of the SPLM based on the provision of the peace agreement,” said the speaker.
“So where do they get this idea of dissolution to reconstitute the parliament. Where do they get their basis?” he asked.
The assembly speaker’s remarks followed reports that President Salva Kiir and Machar disagreed on reintegration of the armed forces, the structure of the government and the system of governance during the transitional period.
The two South Sudanese rival leaders have been meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after their representatives were unable to reach a consensus to resolve number of most of the contentious issues.
The South Sudanese government spokesman, Michael Makuei Lueth, said the two leaders disagreed on most of the outstanding issues.
Lueth said the armed opposition faction had proposed an extension of the power sharing arrangements to the state and county levels while wanting national parliament to be dissolved and reconstituted.
But government, Lueth said, wants power sharing to be only limited at the national level and proposed an expansion of the parliament.
“Our position as the government is that 68 seats can be added to the current number to make 400 members in the national assembly while the Council of States will be intact. The rebels also want the national elections commission, the judiciary and the constitutional review commission to be dissolved and re-established”, he said.
According to Lueth, the opposition also wants the National Elections Commission to carry out the polls jointly with the United Nations, but the government only accepts the reconstitution of these institutions.
Meanwhile, Dhieu Mathok Diing, the chief negotiator for the opposition accused government of displaying lack of interest in resolving the conflict through peaceful dialogue, causing the deadlock.
Diing, however, expressed hope that the outstanding issues will be resolved if government places the nation above individual ambitions.
He said the mediators have now undertaken diplomatic shuttles between the two rival sides, requesting to have separate meetings with the two principals, after which they will look into the outstanding issues.
The last round of the peace talks in Addis Ababa, between the two warring parties in South Sudan came to a standstill as president Kiir and Machar failed to agree on any of the major outstanding issues.
The East African regional bloc (IGAD) had given the two principals until 5 March to resolve all the contentious issues and sign a final peace agreement. However, in the last three days of their direct face-to-face negotiations, Kiir and Machar failed to agree.
(ST)