South Sudan: Juba Cabinet Forms Committee On Boundaries of 28 States

The new Cabinet in South Sudan has formed a technical committee to review boundaries of the 28 states that remain a sticking point between supporters of President Salva Kiir and those of First Vice-President Dr Riek Machar.

According to the Minister for Water and Irrigation, Mabior Garang de Mabior, the issue of the 28 states has only succeeded in evoking ethnic consciousness -- against the principle of the nation state, which sought to bring together all the 64 ethnic groups under one nation.

"Instead, we are seeing ethnic groups that have never fought before such as Bare and Mundare in Central Equatoria go for each other over boundaries, resources and leadership," said Mr Mabior.

The Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) led by former president of Botswana Festus Mogae had stated that it is not going to factor the 28 states into the implementation process and that partners to the peace process should discuss the issue and come up with the appropriate number of states for South Sudan.

South Sudan's charge d'affaires in Kenya, Jimmy Deng, also argued that the issue of 28 states is beyond the JMEC's mandate and that it is an internal administrative affair that can be handled by the new Government of National Unity.

After three weeks of existence, the Cabinet has held two meetings in which the issues of how to settle the internally displaced persons and the new implementation matrix were discussed and passed.

The government has the challenge of resettling about 200,000 IDPs who are living in UN-protected sites across the country, having fled when fighting broke out in December 2013. Many have been in the camps for more than two years, with some of them having their properties occupied by strangers after they fled to the camps.

However, there is a consensus that the unity government must be made to work for the sake of the country's survival.

According to the new Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Dr Cirino Hiteng, there is an overwhelming desire within the Cabinet to implement the peace agreement in full despite the numerous challenges.

So far, only the executive arm of the government has been constituted while the legislature and the judiciary are yet to be reconstituted.

Cantonment of soldiers

The current parliament comprising 332 MPs was supposed to have been dissolved by now and all the current MPs and the newly nominated 68 MPs sworn in.

However, negotiations on who will preside over the election of the Speaker and on the method of voting -- secret ballot and or by the show of hands -- are still going on.

The current speaker, Magot Rundia, is to step down because he is a Nuer whereas the post had been reserved for a person from Greater Equatoria for the sake of ethnic balance in the top four leadership positions.

This means parliament is yet to effect constitutional amendments to incorporate the agreement, despite having passed a motion to adopt the agreement as part of the Constitution last year. The two partners are also yet to agree on how to fill vacancies in parliament arising from deaths and desertion. While President Kiir's side wants the parties who have lost the seat to nominate a replacement, Dr Machar's side would prefer a by-election to be held and the seat filled competitively.

The chairman of the Transitional Security Monitoring Mechanism, General Molla Hailemariam, has expressed concerns that it is yet to fully determine the number of forces currently occupying the capital, Juba, which is supposed to be demilitarised, leaving only 4,830 troops from both the government and the armed opposition.

However, Second Vice-President James Wani Igga told The EastAfrican in an interview in Nairobi that the Cabinet will hold an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday May 24 to tackle a host of issues, including the deployment of all extra troops over and above the 4,830 to seven camps outside Juba which still remains a sticking point.

"Despite the teething problems, the formation of the Unity Cabinet shows that there is goodwill and determination to implement the agreement as the only choice for us to relieve our people from the undue suffering associated with the armed conflict imposed upon them," said Mr Igga.