S. Sudan opposition youth want Kiir’s decree on new states revoked
October 4, 2015 (KAMPALA) – South Sudan’s armed opposition youth league said the move by president Salva Kiir to expand the country’s states from 10 to 28 be revoked.
The secretary general of the youth league in Kampala, Jal Gatluak Toch said the creation of 28 states without consulting nor involving other peace partners was “unconstitutional”
He accused president Kiir of lacking the basis for leadership, adding that the demand for more states should be the right of South Sudanese, rather than a one man’s decision.
“President Kiir is confusing himself, every day he wakes up and decides for South Sudanese. He should have worked to bring peace to the citizens rather than imposing rubbish decisions to the people,” Toch said Sunday.
“At this particular moment people need peace. It is not the right time to create more problems,” he added.
The youth leader accused the Juba regime of allegedly failing to hold the agreement by forging the idea of federalism, saying they had no capacity to come up with new things rather than copy and paste the armed opposition’s demands during peace negotiations.
“We want to bring to the attention to the people of the Republic of South Sudan that your movement SPLA/M under the able leadership of Dr. Riek Machar has already anchored the execution of federal system of governance in the signed agreement on August 17,” said Toch.
He said the unilateral declaration of 28 states by President Salva on 2 October was a clear violation of the signed peace accord, witnessed by a number of world leaders to end the 22-months old conflict.
“It’s very clear that President Salva Kiir used invalid constitutional mandate decree on 2nd October, which revealed that Juba regime had a hidden intention for dishonoring the peace implementation and it is now a clear message that Kiir is not ready for peace,” he added.
Toch further said the decision by the Juba government to make more states without finalising the recently signed peace agreement meant that they were preparing for war.
He warned that there could be more war outbreaks among South Sudanese over territorial disputes, urgjng Kiir’s government to revoke its decree for the nation’s stability.
(ST)