Peace Deal Undermined as S. Sudan Names New Governors

Local Editor

President of South Sudan named new governors after nearly tripling the number of regional states, undermining a fundamental pillar of a power-sharing deal to end a two-year-long civil war.

The presidential decree was read out on state radio late Thursday in which the announcement considered that the now 28 states make the previous 10 regions "invalid."

Relatively, President Salva Kiir and militant chief Riek Machar repeatedly accused each other of breaking successive peace deals but they said they remain committed to the August 26 agreement, although they have missed a string of deadlines.

Civil war began in the country in December 2013 when Kiir accused his former deputy Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that split the poverty-stricken South Sudan along ethnic lines.

In parallel, UN chief in South Sudan Ellen Margrethe Loj said in a message broadcast Friday that with the rebel's arrival, "hopefully this is the start of the implementation of the agreement."

Machar issued a statement late Thursday anouncing that "the war of the last two years came to an end."

For its part, the International Crisis Group [ICG] last week warned that a "major breach" of the peace deal was "increasingly likely" with growing numbers of armed groups now neither loyal to the government or Machar's rebels.

"The prospect of a multi-polar war is becoming reality," the ICG said.

"Juba is also preparing for offensives during the upcoming dry season in anticipation that the agreement it never fully committed to could collapse," it added.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team