S. Sudan Opposition Alliance rejects latest consensus on states

June 18, 2020 (SSNN) – The South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) has rejected yesterday’s consensus by president Salva Kiir and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar on the allocation of states.

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday in Juba, minister for presidential affairs Nhial Deng Nhial said the parties have reached an agreement and decided to allocate six states to the SPLM-IG, three to the SPLM-IO and one to South Sudan Opposition.

The latest decision by Kiir and Machar gives the opposition consortium the state of Jonglei in contrary to an earlier unilateral decision by Kiir in which he gave the oil-rich Upper Nile state to the alliance.

In a statement this morning, the South Sudan Opposition Alliance said it rejects the latest agreement and only stands by the previous decision in which they were given the state of Upper Nile.

“The Leadership of SSOA is dismayed by the press statement released by the Minister of the Presidential Affairs yesterday 17th June 2020 which reallocated the States to the parties to the Agreement,” the statement signed by SSOA chairperson Josephine Lagu and extended to South Sudan News Now reads.

The statement said the meeting was not inclusive because it “did not include VP for SSOA H.E. Hussein Abdelbagi Akol who is currently in Aweil completing the funeral rites of his late father who passed away in Juba on the 6th June 2020.”

“Because of that, the leadership of SSOA still stands by the resolution of the Presidency dated 07 May 2020 that allocated Upper Nile to SSOA.”