S. Sudan’s 28 new states inline with SPLM-IO’s vision: Kiir
January 22, 2016 (JUBA) – The South Sudanese presidency said Friday that the creation of more states was not an attempt to derail implementation of peace accord signed with armed opposition (SPLM-IO) led by the country’s former vice president, Riek Machar.
“People had hoped that the SPLM in Opposition leadership would not be intransigent on the issue of the states because they were the people who actually introduced the issue of more states. They should be the first to appreciate and congratulate the president for adding more states to meet their wish”, Tor Deng Mawien, presidential adviser on decentralization and intergovernmental linkage told Sudan Tribune on Friday.
This came after some senior members of armed opposition to returned to the South Sudanese capital, Juba, from their headquarters in Pagak, where they had gone for consultations over the issue of the states to be included in the amended constitution.
“They should have taken it as an achievement on their part, unfortunately, they are going against their own proposal and i don’t know whether people, including members of the international community take them seriously”, he said without providing additional comments on the matter when asked in an interview.
Observers note that many government officials had hoped that senior members of armed opposition leader who went to their headquarters in Pagak from where they returned to the national capital, Juba, on Friday, would come back with a relaxed position on the number of states to be included in the amended constitution.
They say they had heard from senior government officials talking of expectations of the opposition leadership increasing the number of states up to more than 60 or 70 states.
The basis of the speculation, analysts say, was because the opposition created 21 states. But senior members of the SPLM-IO who returned from their headquarters on Friday, said their leaders recommended implementation of the accord without any alteration.
(ST)