South Sudan Key Opposition Leader Machar Rejects Latest Deal
South Sudan Key Opposition Leader Machar Rejects Latest Deal
(Bloomberg) -- A day after South Sudan’s leaders including President Salva Kiir agreed to return the country to a system of 10 states and three administrations, a key opposition member has rejected the latest proposals.
Riek Machar, rebel leader and former vice president, said the deal “cannot be accepted,” calling for the creation of three administrative areas to be reconsidered as it may open “another Pandora’s box,” according to a statement yesterday. Previous proposals called for South Sudan to have 32 states.
Leaders initially set a Feb. 22 deadline for agreement on the formation of a unified administration, which is seen as key to rebuilding the East African nation’s oil industry and shattered economy after a five-year civil war. Previous attempts to form a unity government have failed.
“After Kiir stared down some of his hardliners yesterday to make the compromise, now Machar is relenting to his by rejecting it,”said Alan Boswell, a researcher on South Sudan with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. “However, he will receive little backing for trying to further renegotiate the issue. The pressure will now fall squarely on Machar to soon return to Juba,” the capital city, he said.
Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, strongly urged the leaders to respect their people and to end confrontation, speaking in Addis Ababa last week.
South Sudan has been mired since late 2013 in a conflict that’s claimed almost 400,000 lives, forced 4 million people to leave their homes and caused an economic crisis. Setting the number of states within the country and the boundaries between them should effectively establish the distribution of power across the newest nation in the world.
To contact the reporters on this story: Samuel Gebre in Addis Ababa at sgebre@bloomberg.net;Okech Francis in Juba at fokech@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gordon Bell at gbell16@bloomberg.net, James Amott, James Cone
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