The South Sudan Opposition Alliance has rejected the new deal on allocation of states, saying it was not part of the decision.
On Wednesday, the principals of the peace accord – President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Dr Riek Machar – agreed to allocate the states to each party to the revitalized peace agreement.
They agreed to allocate six states to the SPLM, while the SPLM-IO will take three states.
The Opposition Alliance was awarded Jonglei State as its share.
JUST IN: Parties agree on state allocations https://t.co/ggHfYjk1m3 #SouthSudan
— Eye Radio (@EyeRadioJuba) June 17, 2020
But in a statement seen Eye Radio on Thursday, the Opposition Alliance said it was short-changed in the meeting between Kiir and Machar.
The Chairperson of SSOA, Josephine Joseph Lagu, says their representative, Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi was not consulted on the new allocation.
SSOA has rejected yesterday's agreement on the allocation of states, saying their rep in the peace presidency, Hussein Abdelbaggi, was not involved in the decision-making. VP Abdelbagi is currently attending his father's funeral rites in Aweil. #SouthSudan pic.twitter.com/KEkRfj97YV
— Eye Radio (@EyeRadioJuba) June 18, 2020
“We feel that any meeting of that sort should have included the vice president of SSOA in the Presidency,” Ms Lagu argued.
“And therefore, we cannot endorse that resolution because our vice president Hussein Abdelbagi needed to be present at the meeting.”
Josephine insisted that SSOA was initially given Upper Nile state during a meeting of the Presidency in May.
But this raises a concern whether SSOA rejects the outcome of the Kiir-Riek meeting because VP Abdelbagi was absent or because it was offered a state it didn’t expect.
In May, President Kiir and his deputies, except Machar agreed to allocate Upper Nile State to SSOA.
But the SPLM-IO and other opposition leaders, including Dr. Riek Machar, rejected the decision.