Jonglei assembly to open to discuss constitution and insecurity

By John Actually

September 15, 2011 (BOR) – Jonglei state assembly plans to reopen on Monday, 26 September with Jonglei transitional constitution and modalities on how to bring about peace among the conflicting tribes of Jonglei, to be tabled for discussion.

The assembly has been closed since June when MPs left for their holidays, one month before the declaration of South Sudan as an independent state on 9 July.

The state constitutional review committee presented the draft-transitional constitution of Jonglei to the state governor, Kuol Manyang, on Saturday, 3 September, after two weeks reviewing the changes in the old constitution to align it with the new national transitional constitution of South Sudan.

Peter Chol Wall, the speaker of Jonglei Legislative Assembly (JLA) told reporters in Bor on Wednesday that the state executive approved the transitional constitution last week and is now ready to be presented to parliament for discussion by the minister of Legal Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs.

“The draft of law was made by the committee and I heard that it was passed by the executive when I was away. It is ready to [be] submitted to my office for discussion by the assembly when we open”, said Wall.

He said there is need to start with constitution because the state government is working in a “vacuum”

“There must be a law guiding the people and maybe the formation of the cabinet will be based on this. that is why we should start with it”, said Wall.

Wall urged all the state MPs to turn up for the reopening of the assembly.

“Insecurity is a burning issue”

Wall expressed his deep concern about insecurity caused by both tribal clashes and the rebel activities in Jonglei.

According to Wall, the rebel leader George Athor Deng, who rebelled against the government after he failed to win the state’s governorship from the incumbent, his political rival, Kuol Manyang Juuk, in April 2010 general elections is now arming the youth of Uror, Nyirol and Ayod counties to fight against the government and their traditional enemy, the Murle tribe.

In August armed Murle groups launched a devastating attack on Uror county killing over 600 people according to local reports. The attack was the latest in a serious of cattle raids between the Murle and other tribes in Jonglei.

He said state “insecurity is a burning issue” adding “we need our MPs to intervene to convince their communities.

Wall said Athor has taken the advantage of tribal conflicts by giving arms to Lou-Nuer community to fight their enemy Murle as well as the government.

He said the rebel leader is now operating in Nyirol and Uror counties, which is complicating the civilian disarmament process underway there. The speaker said Athor, a former senior military general and minister in South Sudan, was aiming to tarnish the peaceful co-existence among Jonglei’s communities.

Wall urged the government to send in troops to the area before the situation escalated. He said the national government should not see it as the state issue.

According to Wall, their plan of sending MPs to visit their constituencies in an attempt to stop the violence, is hindered by Jonglei’s terrible infrastructure and lack of transport.

In a separate interview with Uror County commissioner in Bor, Tut Puok Nyang denied the presence of rebels in his county and dismissed the claims that Athor was rearming young men in the are, calling it a baseless lie.

He said soldiers from the South Sudan army (SPLA) living in his county would have noticed if there were guns being given to civilians by the rebel leader.

(ST)