Two years ago the leaders of South Sudan had a disagreement, leading to one
of them being dismissed from his post. One was the president and the other was
the first vice president. Since then – 2013 – civil conflict took hold, fuelled by the
proponents and dissenters of the political rivals. A peace agreement between
the two leaders was reached in August 2015, in which the first vice president
would be reinstated, and has yet to be enacted.
The president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, announced on state news
on Thursday February 11, 2016, that he would re-appoint his rival as first vice
president (International New York Times,
February 11, 2016). The first vice president was Riek Machar, who held the
position from 2011 to 2013 (and formerly as second vice president of Southern
Sudan before independence, from 2005-2011 under the transitional government). I
attended the inaugural session of Parliament in 2005.
Mr. Kiir is from the Dinka ethnic group and Mr. Machar is a Nuer – however,
they have worked together for a substantial amount of time (from 2005) before
the disagreement. Mr. Machar has yet to accept the announcement and decree, and
return to Juba, the capital of South Sudan. He is currently in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, where the peace agreement was negotiated.
The disagreement was about the restructuring of regional states. The
government, in December 2013, dissolved the 10 existing states and created 28
new ones. The question of state power became an issue of contention. Mr. Machar
said it undermined the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005, during the
transitional government, on the formation of national unity.
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The SudanCurse (2009).
Comments
Post a Comment