Gov’t perpetuating deadlock over counties’ allocation – opposition official

JUBA – South Sudan government is perpetuating the continued deadlock over the allocation of local administrative units, an opposition official allied to First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny said Thursday.

South Sudan parties to the revitalized peace agreement, the SPLM-IG, the SPLM-IO, the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), the SPLM-FDs, and the OPP, have been, in recent months, trying to distribute among themselves local government administrative units.

Last month, they agreed on the allocation of states, but deadlock continued over the distribution of counties.

Speaking to Sudans Post on Thursday, Dut Majokdit, a senior member of the SPLM-IO in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state who is also a part of the peace delegates in Juba said teh government is perpetuating the allocation of counties.

“The government, and I mean the former ITGONU, is perpetuating the process of allocation of the counties,” Majokdit said. “We thought we were going to break the deadlock over teh distribution of the counties, but teh government is dragging its feet on the process.”

The opposition official stressed that “there is need for the parties to break the deadlock so that the local governments are formed and the people of South Sudan are served.”

“But now, we have stuck in chapter one. We haven’t moved to chapter two which is the most difficult part in teh agreement. The chapter two is the most important part because it is related to teh security reforms in the country. We need to expedite the process so that a unified army is formed immediately to avoid insecurity,” Majokdit added.