South Sudan’s Kiir warned over unilateral actions

April 11, 2020 News, Newsbeat

South Sudan rival leaders, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, leader of the SPLM/A(IO) and his former boss, President Salva Kiir(Photo credit: supplied)

April 11, 2020 (SSNN) — South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit has been warned by the regional body, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which mediated the revitalized peace agreement, over unilateral actions which may derail the implementation of the revitalized peace deal.

This comes weeks after the South Sudanese head of state appointed the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Petroleum, six Ambassadors and the Governor and two Deputy Governors of the central bank.

In response, the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC), a body constituted by regional bloc IGAD to monitor the implementation of peace deal, slammed Kiir for appointing top officials in the joint government without consulting his partners notably the SPLM-IO chairman Dr. Riek Machar who is serving as First Vice President.

R-JMEC chairperson Augostino Njoroge in a letter dated April 3, 2020 accosted Kiir for appointing the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Petroleum, six Ambassadors and the Governor and two Deputy Governors of the Bank of South Sudan while bypassing the “due collegial collaboration and consultations as required by the provisions in the R-ARCSS, 2018.”

“It is my humble request that in the spirit of collegial collaboration and attainment of mutual understanding, you undertake necessary consultations within the Presidency in a bid to seek agreement on the way forward on these issues raised,” Njoroge said in the letter.

President Kiir and his bitter rival Machar buried the hatchet and formed a unity government on February 22 after nearly six years of an ethno-politicized war that killed more than 400,000 people and displaced millions more.

The revitalized peace agreement establishes a collegial presidency during the transitional period founded on the continued consultation between the President, the First Vice-President and the four Vice-Presidents.

The appointment of “constitutional and judicial office holders” is one of the matters that are requiring ” mutual understanding and agreement” between the members of the presidency.

For the army and other organized forces, the consultation must be observed not only for the appointment but also for the promotion, retirement and dismissal. to consult each other with the approval of the National Defence Council (NDC).

The only exception of this rule is that the President can appoint two advisers, for any additional number of advisers he has to get the agreement of the others.first vice-president and the four vice-presidents.