South Sudan transitional gov’t cannot be formed before pre-transitional arrangements: SPLM-IO
March 19, 2019 (JUBA) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement In Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by Riek Machar reaffirmed that the completion of the pre-transitional arrangements is crucial for the formation of the transitional national unity government.
“We can’t be forced to establish a Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity without implementing the security arrangements up to the completion of the training and redeployment of the necessary unified forces,” Manawa Peter Gatkuoth, SPLM-IO Deputy Chairperson of the National Committee for Information and Public Relations told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday.
He added that all forces shall be cantoned under the supervision of the current monitoring bodies at their present barracks and sites
The slow implementation of the revitalized agreement is behind the schedule due.
In a report released last week, International Crisis Group said the failure to reach an agreement over the security arrangement may lead to delay the transitional unity government past May to allow the IGAD mediators to organise ” a small, limited-mandate third-party protection force for opposition leaders”.
Manawa also pointed out the number of states and boundaries which is a key issue in the revitalized peace agreement that ended the five-year conflict in South Sudan.
“We need to agree on the numbers of the states and the boundaries before rushing to form the Government,” he said, stressing that the revitalized peace agreement is very clear about the rule of the IBC regarding the numbers of state.
If the IBC fails to agree on the number and boundaries of the states, the Referendum Commission on Number and Boundaries of States RCNBS shall conduct a referendum on this matter asking South Sudanese to choose one of three options, he said.
These options are: “The 10 states or 21 states or the current 32 states or any other number of states agreed by IBC to be offered as an alternative,” he further emphasized.
The SPLM-IO media official made his statement as the Independent Boundaries Commission (IBC) concluded a two–day meeting which was the first to be held since the signing of the revitalized pact on 12 September 2018.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the IGAD said that the IBC which will consider the number of states, their boundaries, and the composition and restructuring of the Council of States begun its works
The IBC will receive in the upcoming days a report from the Technical Boundary Committee (TBC), which was tasked with defining and demarcating the tribal areas of South Sudan as they stood on 1 January 1956, and the tribal areas in dispute in the country.
The commission, under the leadership of the South African Thembi Majola will consult the various parties and experts before to submit its recommendations on the number of states and their boundaries to the IGAD Executive Secretariat to be enshrined in the R-ARCSS as an addendum.
(ST)