Parties end standoff over governor position

By Charles Lotara

The Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity has made what might turn out to be a significant step towards implementation of the Reconstituted Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan.

This was after the parties to the agreement announced on Tuesday that they had settled on how the gubernatorial positions were going to be distributed. The progress made comes as a welcome relief to the war-weary country, which had been in suspense since the signing of the revitalised peace agreement.

Credible information available to City Review Weekly showed the presidency met early last week to deliberate the thorny issue of how the 10 gubernatorial seats would allocated to the four parties to the agreement.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Government (SPLM-IG) landed six states, while First Vice President Riek Machar’s SPLM in Opposition (IO) was allocated three states.

South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) will have one state and their counterparts, Other Political Parties (OPP), secured three deputy governor positions.

SPLM-IG and IO will share six deputy governorships, with the former having four and the latter two. SSOA on the other hand will have one state.

The parties to the agreement had been scheduled to meet later last week to conclude a process that has dragged on for since President Kiir and First Vice President Machar agreed to form a government of national unity.