Agrégateur de flux

March 18, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – The continued determination by the South Sudanese government under the leadership of President Salva Kiir to operationalize the controversial new 28 states in the country is a waste of resources and a misplaced priority as the economic crisis deteriorates, an official of the armed opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) has said.

SPLM (IO) Chairman, Riek Machar, addressing the 2nd National Liberation Council (NLC) meeting in Pagak, November 5, 2015 (ST Photo)

“For sure, the ongoing defiant implementation of the new controversial 28 states is not only a violation of the August 2015 peace agreement but also a misplaced priority. It is a waste of the country's scarce resources in the face of the deteriorating economic crisis,” James Gatdet Dak, official spokesman of the SPLM-IO leader, Riek Machar, told Sudan Tribune on Thursday.

“The leadership of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) expects suspension of these 28 states in the event of forming a Transitional Government of National Unity,” he added.

He wondered what the government will have achieved by continuing with the implementation of the new states when it knows that they will be suspended in a matter of weeks and the parties may afterwards revert to 10 states as provided for in the peace agreement.

Dak was responding to media queries on the position and current view of the opposition faction on the new states as the government has continued to operationalize them despite the recent call from the East African regional bloc, IGAD, to suspend them, which the rival parties also agreed to.

An inclusive boundary commission with membership of all the parties to the peace deal will be established by the transitional government to try to reach a consensus on a number of new states to be created, including identifying and agreeing upon their boundaries.

The February 2016 IGAD communiqué, released in Addis Ababa by the bloc's foreign ministers, also called on the parties to revert to the existing constitutionally recognized 10 states - which became the basis for the peace agreement - should there be no consensus on the number of new states and their boundaries.

But the government has continued to operationalize the 28 states it unilaterally created on 2 October 2015, arguing that it was a demand of the people of South Sudan.

The opposition official said his they expected the government to rather suspend the new states until when the parties sit and try to reach a consensus within one month from formation of the government and the boundary commission as stipulated in the IGAD communiqué.

Dak also said it did not make sense for the government to operationalize the “28 new problematic states” so as to accommodate more politicians at the expense of the people when it is not paying salaries to its army and civil servants as well as cutting down the number of its foreign mission officials abroad due to lack of funding.

Tens of thousands of people from such states, he alleged, have been fleeing from South Sudan to neighboring countries because of hunger while millions others are starving internally.

He further argued that some of the new states are problematic and will likely bring to the people of South Sudan more inter-communal violent conflicts.

The opposition's official pointed out that some of the communities, such as the Shilluk ethnic group in Upper Nile region, whose lands have been grabbed and annexed to a Dinka neighbouring community in the process of creating the 28 states, have threatened to wage war in defence of their ancestral lands.

A better decision, he added, is to suspend the new states as called for by the IGAD communiqué and for the parties to collectively agree on the way forward.

(ST)

March 18, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP) has urged the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) to abide by the AU Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) resolutions (456) and (539) which call for holding an inclusive and comprehensive national dialogue.

NUP leader Sadiq al-Mahdi (L) and SCoP chairperson Omer al-Digair in Cairo on 14 March 2016 (ST Photo)

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune Friday, the SCoP said all major national parties have accepted the AUPSC resolutions however the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) seeks to divide the issues and the negotiations forums via the old colonial approach of “divide and rule”.

SCoP renewed its common position along with its allies in the “Sudan Call” and the National Consensus Forces (NCF) which state that the comprehensive political solution couldn't be achieved without meeting several conditions including reaching a total cessation of hostilities in war areas, releasing political detainees and cancelling restrictive laws.

The statement stressed the need that a transitional authority comprised of all political and civil society forces should be established to implement any political agreement among the various parties, pointing that the AUPSC has adopted this position in its resolutions (456) in September 2014 and (539) in August 2015.

The AUHIP has invited the government and the National Umma Party of Sadiq al-Mahdi besides three armed movements: Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement - Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) to take part in a consultative meeting in Addis Ababa on 18 March.

The meeting is supposed to discuss the way forward on the national dialogue and how to stop the armed conflicts in South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur.

SCoP further said the government has always sought to manipulate the peace talks and the national dialogue to avoid reaching a genuine solution that could end the war and lead to a genuine democratic transformation.

“The NCP regime continued to take advantage of the seasonal negotiations events for purposes that has nothing to do with the peaceful solution for the issues of the Sudanese people. It used those events only to confuse the Sudanese people and to market itself to the international community and to divide the opposition front”, the statement read.

SCoP renewed its position that there is no partial solution for the Sudanese crises, saying that the sustainable solution must be inclusive of all issues and parties.

The strategic consultative meeting is conceived by the AUHIP to replace a national dialogue preparatory meeting the government had rejected.

The purpose of the pre-dialogue meeting was to gather the armed and political holdout groups and the government to discuss confidence building measures paving the way for their participation in the internal political process.

The pre-dialogue meeting was supposed to intervene after the signing of a cessation of hostilities agreement within the framework of declaration of principles for a peaceful settlement.

(ST)

March 18, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir, has issued an administrative order appointing former rebel spokesperson, Brigadier General Lul Ruai Koang, as the new spokesperson of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the official army of South Sudan.

Lul Ruai Koang speak to the press in Addis Abab on May 9, 2014 (AFP Photo)

President Kiir, according to the appointment letter he signed on 4 March 2016, but which Koang received on 17 March, two weeks later, assigned him as the spokesperson of the SPLA. He replaced former army spokesperson, Colonel Philip Aguer, who, since 24 December 2015, became an active politician after his appointment as the governor of the newly created Jonglei state.

Aguer's appointment has since created a vacuum in public communications with the army on matters relevant to defence and security of the people and the country.

Speaking to Sudan Tribune on Friday, Koang commended the president and the leadership of the army under the overall command of the chief of general staff, Paul Malong Awan, describing it as a privilege and honour to serve the country at the most critical time in the history of South Sudan.

“I feel honoured and privileged to serve our people and the country as the spokesperson of the SPLA at this time,” said General Koang, when asked how he felt after receiving the news he had been into a highly selling and combative office which represents the views of the army on national affairs.

The military officer said he would work to ensure he speaks and stands for the values the army has been constitutionally mandated to uphold and enhance.

“My message to our people is that the SPLA remains fully committed to defending and protecting territorial integrity of the republic of South Sudan, defend the constitution, protect the lives and properties of our [people] against aggression,” he said.

Commenting on the same development, Gordon Buay, a South Sudanese diplomat at its mission to the United States, congratulated President Kiir on the appointment of General Koang to the position and described him as the “right man in the right job.”

“I want to congratulate President Kiir Mayardit for the appointment of Brig. Gen. Lul because he is the right person for the job,” said Ambassador Buay in a statement which he personally extended to Sudan Tribune on Friday and which he also distributed to a select group of people in his contact list and on social media.

Buay added that he was particularly happy with the appointment because General Koang will “properly deal with anti-peace elements that are spreading lies in the media against the Constitution of South Sudan.”

“There are bandits and political terrorists that are against the implementation of the Compromised Peace Agreement,” he said.

General Koang defected from the armed opposition faction of SPLA-IO under the leadership of Riek Machar, former vice president. He then joined the government since April last year.

(ST)

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