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South Sudan President Salva Kiir on Monday 17th August 2015 failed to append his signature on a peace deal as the former vice-president, Machar signed it.
Rebecca Nyandeng Garang
Attending the talks in Addis Ababa was Rebecca Nyandeng Garang, the widow of one of the founding fathers of the country, the late John Garang.
Towards the end of August 2014, the Voice of America reported the sacking of Rebecca Nyandeng Garang by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir.
Rebecca Nyandeng Garang was Kiir’s advisor on gender issues and human rights. She was sacked citing plan to play for the downfall of the government.
Earlier, Rebecca Nyandeng Garang early January 2014 had told The London Evening Post in an interview that Salva Kiir’s private army prompted the current conflict by destroying Riek Machar’s house and killing of his brother and 34 Nuer soldiers who were guarding his house.
South Sudan Peace Deal
- Power sharing
- Security arrangements
The agreement signed on Monday 17 August, were mainly on power sharing at states level and the national government and also about security arrangements.
At the national level, the power sharing ratio remained as the original proposal of 53% for government, 33% for SPLM-IO and 14% split equally between former detainees and political parties.
Kiir’s government will no longer control 100% of seven of the ten states as the armed opposition faction of the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) will now get 15% of seats in each of the seven states.
Likewise, Machar’s faction will no longer control 53% of the governments of the three states of Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity states. In the three states, government will get 46%, SPLM-IO 40% and former detainees and political parties, 7% each.
The current 325 membership of the national parliament in Juba will be maintained with rebelled members reinstated to their previous parliamentary memberships before 15 December 2013. SPLM-IO will appoint 50 additional members to the national parliament while the former detainees will appoint one additional member and political parties will appoint 17 additional parliamentarians.
On security arrangements, the partially signed peace deal will declare the national capital, Juba, a demilitarized zone, with a radius of 25kms.
Foreign troops, particularly from the IGAD countries and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) will take charge of the capital for 30 months of the period of the transition until elections are conducted.
The two rival armies will also maintain separate commands for a period of transition with president Kiir being the commander-in-chief of the South Sudan army (SPLA) and rebel leader Machar also as the commander-in-chief of his forces until unification process is completed per the agreement.
Worth sharing information os South Sudan peace deal