Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 22:30:55 +0100
Machar decries Juba's comments on power-sharing deal
_____
November 14, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) - South Sudan's former vice president, Riek
Machar, who leads a rebel faction, said that recent remarks by senior
officials in Juba were reneging on the preliminary agreement on executive
power-sharing which transpired from the face-to-face talks he held with
president Salva Kiir in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa last Friday.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which is mediating
between the two warring parties also announced on the same day that there
was progress made in the power-sharing arrangements between the two
principal leaders during the 28th extraordinary summit by the regional heads
of state and government.
Rebel sources said the two rivals agreed on how to share executive powers
between the president and prime minister, including an agreement to command
separate armies during initial phases of the would-be transitional period.
South Sudan's information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, on Tuesday however
dismissed any agreement to share power between Kiir and Machar.
"It was just a proposal and that proposal has been rejected. So it is a
non-starter," he told journalists in the South Sudanese capital of Juba.
Lueth acknowledged that IGAD mediators presented the proposal on
power-sharing to the government negotiators who rejected it.
He also added that IGAD heads of state and government at the summit
similarly rejected the proposal, saying that the new document was against
the protocol signed by the regional leaders in August which pre-empted that
president Kiir should remain both the head of state and government with all
the attached executive powers.
However Lueth did not explain last Friday's outcome of the two-day
face-to-face talks between Kiir and Machar on the same topic of executive
power-sharing, which took place in the presence of the Ethiopian prime
minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, who also chairs IGAD, and the Kenyan
president, Uhuru Kenyatta, who serves as rapporteur.
REBELS RESPOND
South Sudanese rebel leader's spokesman, James Gatdet Dak, said his boss,
Machar, described the government's comments as an attempt to "renege" on the
power-sharing deal reached in Addis Ababa.
Dak said it was clear that the government was trying to deviate from the
early understanding.
"This is a clear deviation from the recent understanding in Addis Ababa. How
will it become a power-sharing if executive powers will not be shared
between the president and the prime minister?" inquired the opposition
leader's spokesperson.
He hinted that the opposition group will not accept a non-executive position
of the prime minister, arguing that possessing executive powers was an
important mechanism to ensure implementation of the would-be peace agreement
in order to prevent president Kiir from abusing powers and blocking reforms
again.
"The leadership in Juba is known for blocking reform agenda and abuse of
power," Dak further explained, adding that leaving the executive powers in
their hands would be a "recipe for another disaster."
He said that if there was to ever be power-sharing between the opposition
leader and the president, Kiir would have to relinquish many of his current
executive powers.
The spokesperson further explained that the opposition group has yet to
convince their supporters on whether or not they would accept an arrangement
to share executive powers in which Kiir would continue to maintain his
position as the president, adding that they see him as a "symbol of
corruption, division and death."
PRESIDENT AND PRIME MINISTER
Dak went on to say that the leadership structure should be comprised of the
offices of the president and of the prime minister, opposing the proposal by
government to maintain a position of the vice president in addition to
creating two new deputies to the prime minister.
Citing president Kiir on Wednesday, presidential spokesperson Ateny Wek
Ateny, said the leadership structure should maintain the position of vice
president, currently occupied by James Wani Igga, which should be above the
office of the prime minister.
"The position of the vice-president is in the constitution. His duties are
clearly spelled out in the constitution. He becomes the acting president
when the president travels out of the country," Ateny noted.
"This position will always be there until when the people of this country
decide the type of system of governance they want," he added.
Ateny further asserted that the current vice-president Igga has been loyal
to president Kiir, stood with him during the difficult times and therefore
should not be brushed aside.
Juba also maintains that there should be two deputies to the non-executive
prime minister.
Dak however said government's insistence to have a five-member at the
echelon of the executive was an "ill-intention to spoil the broth with too
many cooks," adding it was a clear indication that president Kiir's
government was not serious on reaching a peace accord with the opposition
group.
He said that maintaining the position of the vice president was not
necessary, which he said should be merged with the office of the president
and that Wani Igga should be given a different portfolio.
"This should not be to maintain or create positions for mere purposes of
accommodating loyalists. It is about ending the war by reaching and
implementing a peace agreement. There has to be clear lines of decision
making at the top executive offices, which should not be crowded or clouded.
Only the president and the prime minister should be jointly in charge of the
executive," Dak explained.
He dismissed the government's argument on the constitutionality of the vice
president's post, saying this was irrelevant since the country was looking
for a new political dispensation to end the crisis.
A constitution, he added, should first put into consideration the interests
of the people, which he said is restoring peace and stability in this case,
and added that it will be through an agreement that a new system of
governance shall be determined.
"They should understand that it shall be in accordance with a peace
agreement that a new system of governance shall be adopted and a new
constitution made, or amend the current one. We are talking of a new
political dispensation," he said.
He reminded that even the positions of the prime minister and its two
deputies which he said the government seemed to be preaching and comfortable
with were not provided for in the current transitional constitution,
inquiring how the government wanted to reconcile these new positions in the
"untouchable transitional constitution."
KENYA EXPERIENCE UNHELPFUL
Dak said there was no need to adopt a leadership structure which others in
the region tried before and proved to be unhelpful.
He said even in Kenya, which is one of the most peaceful countries in the
region, tested the "crowded and clouded executive power-sharing" in the
Grand Coalition", saying Juba should not try to "copy and paste" a
leadership structure which proved unhelpful and was abandoned.
The opposition leader's spokesperson explained that South Sudanese society
had been terribly divided more than the Kenyans and therefore needed
seriousness in order to address the issues through "honest, efficient and
effective trustworthy executive."
"Unlike Kenya which contained its minimal divisions between civilians in
2007, South Sudanese society including government's security organs have
been terribly divided since mid-December 2013. The army has split. The
police is divided. The national security service is also divided," he said.
However, the opposition group, he added, was committed to the IGAD mediated
peace process that would restore peace and stability in the country and
build trust and confidence among the people.
JPEG - 18.9 kb
South Sudan's rebel leader Riek Machar attends the 28th Extraordinary Summit
of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Head of State and
Government in Addis Ababa November 6, 2014 (REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri)
(image/jpeg attachment: image001.jpg)