South Sudan to go aheadwith division of country into more states despite appeals

 

The government of South Sudan will go further in its decision to divide the country’s ten states into 28, despite the wide international calls to reverse the presidential order.South Sudan minister of cabinet affairs Martin EliaLomuro stressed that Juba would not reverse the presidential order creating and dividing the country into 28 states.

The minister told reporters in Juba on Wednesday that the decision of the president is constitutional and it will not be reversed.

“The constitution talks about decentralization and the people who have always asked for devolution of powers to the lower level government. This could not be done in time because the government, as you know, was preoccupied with the implementation of the CPA and the referendum and then came this senseless war,” he said.

“The president’s order has instead enriched the agreement even further, giving the opposition more seats.

“Actually the order helps them to accommodate more of their members. They will now have 6 governors. The power ratio has been altered. The rebels will continue to get 40% of the power sharing in the [further divided] states of Upper Nile, Jonglei and Unity,” he further argued.

The Troika, comprising the EU, US, UK and Norway have considered President Kiir’s decision as a violation to the recent peace agreement, calling on him to revise the decision.