April 19, 2020 (Nyamilepedia) — South Sudan parties negotiating the allocation of state governors are reportedly considering the intervention of regional bodies over the deadlock on the issue, a senior opposition official said.
Disagreements worsened last week when the government suggested that President Salva Kiir appoint interim state governors until negotiations are completed over the matter.
The SPLM-IO as well as other opposition groups rejected the move saying the government was employing a tactic which may jeopardize the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement.
Speaking to Nyamilepedia this evening, a senior opposition official said from the country’s capital Juba said the SPLM-IO and South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) suggested that the parties should seek the regional intervention to arbitrate because the government was not willing to give up on demand to have six governors which he said is in contrast to the peace deal.
“The government in this process is acting outside the revitalized peace agreement. The demand that it should take 60% of the state governors is a contradiction with the agreement,” the opposition official said on condition of anonymity.
“It is on this basis that the SPLM-IO and the South Sudan Opposition Alliance have suggested that regional mediation of the IGAD is needed to arbitrate because we can not hold our people in the states hostage to the government desire to have much higher number of governors that that in the agreement,” he said.
