The parties to the agreement have started incorporating provisions of the peace document into the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan.

The August peace agreement stipulates that the Transitional Constitution of 2011 should be amended in order to govern the country during the 30-month transitional period.

The eight-member committee is composed of two members from the government, the SPLM-IO, and one each from the former Political Detainees and the other political parties, and two from the IGAD.

“We’ve been working on it, trying to fix the articles of the [peace] agreement into the constitution so that it becomes the new constitution, which is actually derived from the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan 2011,” said Biel Boutros, member of the SPLM-In Opposition’s advance team.

Mr. Biel added that the parties have disagreed on the issue of by-elections during the Transitional Period in case any Member of Parliament resigns or dies during this period.

Government representatives argue that there should be no by-elections during this period, because the Transitional National Legislative Assembly will be a re-constituted parliament.

However, the SPLM-IO insists that by-elections are the major principles of rule of law that give people the right to elect their leaders.

“We think that in the next one week, we shall have [completed] with the amendment,” he added.