This archive report was first published on 18 May 2020.
South Sudan's fragile peace agreement is facing a new test as President Salva Kiir's decision to allocate states to opposition parties has sparked a heated debate over the allocation of governorships.
According to sources, President Kiir has allocated the governorships of Jonglei, Western Bahr El Ghazal, and Western Equatoria to the Sudanese Peoples' Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), led by Dr. Riek Machar. However, Dr. Machar has rejected the allocations, citing Chapter 4 of the revitalized agreement, which had allocated him Upper Nile, Lakes, and Eastern Equatoria.
Experts believe that President Kiir's strategy is to prevent Dr. Machar from using his support in the three states to create a standoff similar to the one in July 2016 or to use them as a base for secession if the transitional government collapses.
Gen. Augustino Njoroge, the chairman of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC), has written to the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) heads of state to convene an extraordinary meeting to address the issue.
Gen. Njoroge's letter, dated [published_at], states: 'It is, therefore, evident that the parties have failed to resolve the deadlock over the allocation of states, including which party takes which state, and have also rejected the RJMEC chairperson's recommendation offered to them. I hereby, pursuant to Article 7.11, refer this matter to the Igad heads of states as guarantors to the peace agreement.'
The challenge is that with the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been difficult for regional leaders to hold a face-to-face meeting, and it could take a while for the stalemate to be resolved.
