S Sudan president offers key compromise for peace
South Sudan's president said on Saturday he'd return to a system of 10 states, a key opposition demand, paving the way for a unity government and a finish to the country's civil war.
"The compromise we've just made is in the interest of peace...I expect the opposition to reciprocate," Salva Kiir said, after a gathering of top government and military officials in the capital Juba. Kiir and rebel chief Riek Machar are under increasing pressure to solve their distinctions by February 22 and form a unity government within a peace agreement.
The pair have previously missed two previous deadlines to enshrine peace and end a six-year conflict which has left at least 380,000 people dead and millions in dire poverty.If they met last week in neighboring Ethiopia, the talks ended in deadlock -- but Kiir's announcement means an integral concern of Machar has been resolved. "
This decision may not have been the best option for our people but also for the sake of peace and unity in the country, the Presidency sees it necessary," a government statement added.
There is no immediate reaction from Machar. The amount of states is contentious for the reason that borders will determine the divisions of power in the united states. When it gained independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan had 10 states, as lay out in its constitution. Kiir increased that in 2015 to 28, and later 32.
But on Saturday, a presidential statement confirmed that Kiir had "resolved to come back the united states to 10 states and their previous counties". Kiir's had repeatedly refused to back off on the number of states, but had come under powerful international pressure to compromise.
Machar previously said he cannot go back to his old job as vice-president if the status quo on states remained. Violence in the war has reduced since Kiir and Machar signed a deal in September 2018, and diplomats warned that keeping that peace is critical.
The ultimate matter of states will be debated after the unity government forms, the statement added. In addition to the 10 states, there may also be three separate "administrative areas" of Ruweng, Pibor and Abyei the ultimate is a particular border region also claimed by neighboring Sudan.
Kiir and Machar are old rivals who've fought and made up multiple times. Their latest agreement came when they signed a peace deal in September 2018, pausing the bloodshed that erupted in 2013 when the president accused his former deputy of plotting a coup.
They agreed to get together in a coalition in-may 2019. However disputes over territory and security arrangements dogged negotiations and the deadline was missed, accompanied by another half a year later.
In November, the pair were given 100 more days to solve these sticking points. That extension finishes next Saturday. The eight-nation East African bloc of nations, IGAD, warned last week that any extension beyond February 22 was "neither desirable nor feasible."
