JUBA/KHARTOUM – Opposition leader Dr. Riek Machar Teny may return to Juba next week to try for the fourth time to meet President Salva Kiir to resolve pending issues before the end of the pre-transitional period.
Machar returned to the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Sunday from Juba after protracted negotiations with his rival President Salva Kiir failed to yield results.
Both men are under pressure from regional and international powers to reach a compromise of sticking issues and form a unity government by February 22.
His spokesperson Peter Manawa Gatkuoth said the rebel leader will return to Juba in the first week of February to meet President Kiir after the visit of a top American official who is expected in Juba early next month.
“Dr. Riek has returned to Khartoum this afternoon without an agreement on the outstanding issues, especially the issue of states … we were expecting another meeting between the two principles after the visit of the US Assistant Secretary” he said.
Manawa said there was “not much headway made on the issue of states.” A committee appointed by IGAD to solve the contentious issue of the number of states and their boundaries decided to refer the matter to external intervention from the African court on arbitration.
The committee led by South African Deputy President David Mabuza said the issue should not impede the formation of the unity government, saying the parties can go ahead with the arrangement and then resolve the matter within a period of 90 days. The opposition has outright rejected this plan
SPLM-IO Deputy Representative in Tanzania Peter Kleto accused Mabuza of attempting to hijjack the negotiation process and give Kiir a stronger position and influence in the joint government.
“The fact that David Mabuza wanted the government to be formed before the court means he has agreed with the government position to maintain the unpopular 32 states and this in our view cannot be a position of a mediator, but of someone who has already taken side,” Kleto was quoted as saying.
“The 32 states were created by a presidential decree, not through a referendum and therefore, creation of more states when you cannot even develop the 10 states is an unwise decision,” he stressed.
Government officials have distanced Juba from the proposal saying they do not agree with it, since it does not conform to the provisions of the August 2018 revitalized deal.
“We have not rejected the South African Deputy President’s proposal. But it is a mere proposal — and it’s outside the agreement. We should conform with the agreement.” government spox Micheal Makuei said last week.
South Sudan had 10 states when it seceded from Sudan in 2011 to become Africa’s newest nation and this number is stipulated in the constitution. But in 2015 Kiir unilaterally increased the number to 28 and then later 32.
The opposition believes he added the extra states to gerrymander greater support for his own Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM). They insist that the constitution is explicit that South Sudan comprises only 10 states and that only a constitutional amendment approved by two-thirds majority of both houses of Parliament can change that.
