December 19th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – A top opposition official of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by the country’s First Vice President designate Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon hinted on Tuesday at extending the pre-transitional period in South Sudan.
South Sudan President, Salva Kiir, and prominent opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar in September signed a revitalized version of a 2015 peace deal in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa following months of tough negotiations in Khartoum, Sudan.
According to the agreement, the two agreed to work together in a new political road map and put aside differences and form a unity government of thirty-six months after which a election will be held for South Sudan to chose a new leader.
The thirty-six months transitional period, based on implementation modalities, would be preceded by a eight-months pre-transitional period with in which all the necessary pre-transitional arrangements including pending issues such as the number of states and states borders would be completed.
However, in an apparent admission that the pre-transitional period activities will not be completed by May next year, the SPLM-IO Deputy Chairman, Henry Odwar, who is also the Deputy Chairman of the National Pre-Transitional Committee (NPTC) told the Nyamilepedia on Tuesday in an exclusive interview that should the NPTC fail to complete all the necessary preparations for the transitional period, the two leaders [Kiir and Machar] will meet to extend the pre-transitional period.
“If we have not achieved what is required within the Pre-Transitional period, it is my believe that the principles shall meet in order to extend the period until all mechanisms are in place for R-TGoNU,” he told the Nyamilepedia on Tuesday.
Odwar further said his group, the SPLM-IO will not take decisions unilaterally saying some delays specially the solution for the number and borders of state lies solely in the hand of the regional body, the IGAD which negotiated the revitalized peace deal.
“[SPLM-] IO shall NOT partake in any short cuts this time around,” he said adding that the “delay in the resolution of number of States lies squarely in the hands of IGAD.”
