JUBA – President Salva Kiir and Opposition Leader Dr. Riek Machar are expected to resolve the issue of the number and boundaries of states as they resume talks this week.
Machar arrives in Juba on Tuesday afternoon.
He will meet with the Deputy President of South Africa, David Mabuza, who is the mediator of the issue of the States.
Kiir and Machar are expected to study the position of their representatives and agree on a compromise over the number of States.
There are currently 32 States that President Kiir created through a presidential decree in 2015.
But the revitalized peace agreement demands that the parties agree on a compromise.
Last month, Kiir and Machar failed to resolve whether to adopt 32, 24 plus Abyei or the previous 10 States.
The government is reported to have demanded the creation of more States, while some opposition groups called for the reduction of the number.
The matter was referred to the Deputy President of South Africa David Mabuza, who has been mediating between the parties.
According to the SPLM-IO, this week’s meetings will attempt to narrow the differences among the parties.
The principals will also meet with regional envoys on the matter.
“We expect that there will be the third meeting between him [Machar] and the president involving the two envoys Kalonzo Musyoka of Kenya and then the special envoy of South Africa to discuss the issues of number of states and their boundaries,” said Manawa Peter, deputy spokesperson of the SPLM-IO.
Determining the number of states and their boundaries is among the tasks that are meant to be completed within the pre-transitional period but so far, there is no agreement yet.
