South Sudan president urges state governors to prioritize reconciliation
January 8, 2016 (JUBA) – South Sudanese president Salva Kiir has urged state governors and leading officials in his governing party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), to prioritize peace and reconciliation among the citizens, asserting that objective of the creation of new states will be meaningless if division and ethnic hate preaching is not addressed.
He urged his officials including the 28 governors he unilaterally appointed to the controversial 28 states he decreed into being on 2 October, to sell to the people the importance of maintaining the new states.
“Your priority as the governors is to go to your areas and start work. You need to sensitize the people about peace and unity and to explain to them the objective of the creation of new states. Tell those who have not understood it that it is an answer to the calls for taking government and services closer to the people. It will reduce walking distances for people,” Kiir explained.
The creation of more states, he said, does not mean division of people and to preach hatred about other people but rather devolution of powers and transfer of institutions to the lower level structure.
“The creation of new states is not the division of the people. It is just devolution of powers to the people at the lower level. So go and explain it to the people so that they understand it,” he further directed.
Kiir also slashed out to others whom he said were against the creation of the 28 states, indicating that he would not back down to reverse the decision despite condemnation by other peace parties as a clear violation of the peace agreement signed in August 2015 on the basis of the 10 states.
The armed opposition faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) said they will not recognize the new 28 states and have already selected their officials based on the constitutionally recognized 10 states in the country.
The matter over the new states is feared to derail the implementation of the peace agreement unless the chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), Festus Mogae, steps in early to resolve the issue.
The government rejected the idea to create more states during the two-year of peace negotiations in Addis Ababa with the opposition factions, despite earlier proposal by the SPLM-IO to create 21 federal states for the country.
The East African regional bloc, IGAD, and other partners in the mediation persuaded the SPLM-IO to drop the proposal of creating more states, saying this will be collectively tackled by all parties in the constitution making process.
However, about 40 days after the peace agreement was inked, president Kiir came up with a unilateral decision to create 28 states, prompting condemnations from other parties and regional and international mediation groups.
Observers however say president Kiir may continue to ignore the condemnations and calls to reverse the decision with the hope to take every body for a ride on the matter.
(ST)