Last week the United Nation said South Sudanese warring groups were still continuing with hostility south of Unity state, adding the going fighting in a few areas in the state is blocking aids delivery to thousands of people that took shelters in the bushes.
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To my esteemed nationalists decrying the creation of 28 states in the fear that it will stretch thin our meagre resources and serve as a recipe for Balkinizing and Somalinizing South Sudan, we believe yours are well-intentioned concerns and genuine fears; but hear us too: Our elation or jubilation is not borne out of naivete and optical illusion, but lived experience of an unacceptable magnitude.
Rebel forces have attacked positions held by government troops, killing 14 of them and wounding 42 others, military spokesman Col. Philip Aguer told The Associated Press.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir has ordered the number of regional states be almost tripled, his spokesman said Saturday, undermining a fundamental pillar of a power-sharing deal to end civil war.
This, to me, is a commendable decision of all the presidents had previously made because he has listened to people’s popular will. Kenya has 47 counties which are equivalent to South Sudan’s now decreed 28 states, yet it is making great strides toward economic development using whatever little resources at her disposal.
The presidential order must now be passed by the parliament before becoming a law.
The rebels, led by former vice president Riek Machar, also choose the powerful governor posts in the northern battleground states of Unity and Upper Nile, the country’s main oil production zones.
South Sudanese soldiers are pictured in Pageri in Eastern Equatoria State, South Sudan, August 20, 2015.
“This presidential decree is a violation of the peace agreement and is a clear message to the world that president Kiir is not committed to peace”, Machar said in a statement.
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Under the agreement, all fighting must stop immediately, child soldiers and prisoners of war must be released, and foreign forces must leave the country within 45 days. Machar, who is scheduled to return to his position as Kiir’s top deputy if a transitional government is created in late November, rejected the move.
