June 18, 2020 (Nyamilepedia) – The South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), an opposition consortium that is a signatory to the revitalized peace agreement, has rejected yesterday’s agreement between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar on the allocation of states.
Kiir and Machar yesterday agreed to allocate six states to the former ITGONU, three for the SPLM-IO, and one to the SSOA.
A previous decision by Kiir gave the state of Upper Nile – which has now shifted to the SPLM-IO – to the South Sudan Opposition Alliance. That agreement was rejected by the Machar led main armed opposition group forcing the parties to return to the table of negotiation.
However, yesterday’s decision gave the alliance Jonglei state instead angering the opposition consortium.
In a statement this morning, the South Sudan Opposition Alliance said it rejects the latest agreement and only stands by the previous decision in which they were given the state of Upper Nile.
“The Leadership of SSOA is dismayed by the press statement released by the Minister of the Presidential Affairs yesterday 17th June 2020 which reallocated the States to the parties to the Agreement,” the statement signed by SSOA chairperson Josephine Lagu.
The statement said the meeting was not inclusive because it “did not include VP for SSOA H.E. Hussein Abdelbagi Akol who is currently in Aweil completing the funeral rites of his late father who passed away in Juba on the 6h June 2020.”
“Because of that, the leadership of SSOA still stands by the resolution of the Presidency dated 07 May 2020 that allocated Upper Nile to SSOA.”
