Latest: ‘Kiir will never cancel 32 states, no matter what, Ateny rules out

December 22, 2019 Newsbeat, South Sudan

The Press Secretary in the Office of the President, Ateny Awek Ateny addresses the media following an unknown event (Photo: Supplied)

December 22nd, 2019 (SSNN)-The Press Secretary in the Office of the President, Ateny Awek Ateny has ruled out that there would be no external pressure on Earth or Heaven that would ever compel President Kiir Mayardit to cancel the controversial 32 states, no matter what.

Speaking to a group of local authorities from Terkeka state on Saturday, Ateny remarked that Kiir had been lenient for a long time and that any attempt to cancel the 32 states is simply out of the question and unlikely to merit further discussion.

“If it’s a pressure, there will be no pressure under Earth and the Sun that will make President Kiir cancel the 32 states,” Ateny Awek ruled out.

The issue of the number of States and their Boundaries, has been one of the most challenging and difficult Pre-transitional Tasks impeding the implementation of the peace agreement.

In 2015, South Sudan’s warring Parties signed an agreement on the basis of 10 states as enshrined in the South Sudan’s Transitional Constitution.

However, the Kiir administration made a unilateral decision and increased the number of states to 28 and later to 32, a move bitterly criticized by the opposition groups, was considered a flagrant violation of the Constitution and the Peace Agreement.

Under the Revitalized Peace Agreement signed in September 2018, the East African regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) was required to take into account and appoint an Independent Boundaries Commission (IBC) and the task of that IBC was to look at the number of States and their Boundaries, and to make recommendations on the way forward.