August 17th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – South Sudan’s main armed opposition group, the sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by the First Vice President Designate, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, said President Salva Kiir should not talk of allocation of state governors because the parties have not agreed to maintain the current 32 controversial states.
Kiir on Wednesday said he will give 14 of the current 32 states to the opposition and maintain 18 urging his governors to be ready to vacate for the incoming opposition forces as part of peace deal implementation.
In an exclusive interview with the Nyamilepedia on Thursday, the SPLM-IO Deputy Chairman of National Committee for Information and Public Relations, Manawa Peter Gatkuoth, said that what Salva Kiir said is not right because the parties are yet to agree on the number of the states.
“What the government is saying about dividing state governors is not true. We didn’t agree on the number of states for the government to talk about allocating a number of state governors to the opposition,” Manawa told the Nyamilepedia.
He said the parties did not agree that the current controversial thirty-two states will continue but agreed that the issue will be handled and resolved before the end of the pre-transitional period.
“We have not agreed that we will maintain during the transitional period the current 32 states. What we have agreed is that the issued will be resolved before the transitional period commence,” he said.